GPM Growth Investors Inc. Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• GPM Growth Investors Inc. reduced its Alphabet stake by 2.2% in the first quarter, but Alphabet remains its largest holding at 9.6% of the portfolio.
• Alphabet reported better-than-expected Q1 results, with EPS of $5.11 versus $2.64 expected and revenue of $109.9 billion versus $106.98 billion estimated.
• Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with several firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus rating and average target of $413.92.

GPM Growth Investors Inc. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,368 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,807 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 9.6% of GPM Growth Investors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. GPM Growth Investors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,823,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $45,625,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $21,630,861,000 after buying an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its price target on Alphabet to $445 from $425 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing the view that the stock still has meaningful upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple upbeat articles highlighted Alphabet as a leading AI and cloud beneficiary, with commentary pointing to strong distribution through Search, Android, YouTube, Google Cloud, and chips as reasons it could monetize AI better than peers.
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage argued Alphabet looks undervalued after a big run over the past year, while other pieces said the company remains one of the most attractive megacap tech names on a risk/reward basis.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other market commentators continued to include GOOGL among cloud and internet stocks positioned to benefit from AI-driven data center spending and digital demand growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Business and tech commentary also pointed to product and platform strengths, including Google Search setting records during the World Cup and Waymo planning more driverless-car expansion, which support the long-term growth narrative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet said it will begin disclosing which ads are generated with AI, a transparency move that may help trust and compliance but is unlikely to materially change near-term earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Britain moved to regulate Google as a critical cloud supplier to protect financial stability; the change adds oversight, but it also underscores the importance of Google Cloud rather than signaling a fundamental business setback.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Google is appealing an Indian ads-related trademark ruling, a legal issue that could create some noise but does not yet appear to be a major stock-moving event.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short-interest data was effectively flat at zero shares reported, offering little actionable signal for traders.
• Negative Sentiment: One Reuters-linked report said Google and OpenAI provided AI services to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Chinese groups on the Pentagon blacklist, which could raise regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical commentary noted Alphabet is testing a key resistance zone after a recovery, suggesting the stock may need a fresh catalyst to extend its move higher.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $357.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.48 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The stock's 50-day moving average is $372.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $336.44. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. President Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.92.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google's core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google's consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.

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