HB Wealth Management LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• HB Wealth Management LLC increased its Alphabet position by 5% in the first quarter, buying 21,715 more shares and bringing its total holding to 455,267 shares worth about $130.9 million.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 versus analyst expectations of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion, both ahead of estimates.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, while analysts remain broadly positive with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $413.92.

HB Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 455,267 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 21,715 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. HB Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $130,917,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $357.18 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.48 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a 50-day moving average of $372.61 and a 200 day moving average of $336.63. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,345,358.56. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. President Capital lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. New Street Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.92.

Alphabet News Summary

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 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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