Live Oak Private Wealth LLC Sells 2,727 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Live Oak Private Wealth reduced its Alphabet stake by 5.1% in the second quarter, selling 2,727 shares and retaining 51,031 shares valued at approximately $18.2 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on Alphabet, with a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $420.19, despite one recent downgrade to “Hold.”
• Alphabet reported quarterly revenue of $119.8 billion and earnings of $9.11 per share, exceeding analyst expectations; its shares were trading at $349.39, up 3.2%.

Live Oak Private Wealth LLC cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 51,031 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,727 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.4% of Live Oak Private Wealth LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Live Oak Private Wealth LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,237,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $52,000. Graney & King LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 38.5% in the second quarter. Graney & King LLC now owns 180 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $64,000 after purchasing an additional 50 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van Den Berg Management I Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 319.6% during the first quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. now owns 214 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial set a $420.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Pivotal Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $475.00 target price (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $420.19.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud remains a major growth catalyst. Alphabet’s cloud backlog reportedly reached $514 billion after second-quarter revenue growth of 82%, reinforcing expectations that Cloud could become a larger long-term earnings driver alongside Search. Alphabet cloud backlog article
• Positive Sentiment: AI concerns are benefiting Alphabet relative to some peers. Alphabet and Meta have attracted investor interest even as concerns about excessive frontier-model spending weigh on parts of the technology sector. A possible slowdown could favor established platforms with strong cash flows, distribution and proprietary infrastructure. Google and Meta AI concerns article
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo is expanding commercially. Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit has begun offering robotaxi rides to the general public in Las Vegas, its first Nevada market, expanding a potential future growth business. Waymo Las Vegas article
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is broadening its AI ecosystem. Giving engineers access to Anthropic’s Claude may improve coding productivity and reflects Alphabet’s investment exposure to Anthropic, although Claude also competes with Google’s own AI models. Google Claude access article
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical momentum is improving. Stockton believes Alphabet may be emerging from its multi-month correction, while recent commentary highlights its cloud position, YouTube scale and custom AI chips as potential competitive advantages.
• Negative Sentiment: AI infrastructure spending is pressuring capital returns. Reports say Alphabet has halted buybacks, its share count is rising and debt has increased as it funds data centers, energy contracts and AI capacity. Local opposition to new data centers could also raise costs or delay projects. Big Tech buybacks article
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment faces legal overhang. Multiple law firms are publicizing securities-fraud investigations involving Alphabet. These announcements do not establish wrongdoing but could add volatility and potential litigation risk. Alphabet securities investigation article

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 450,875 shares of company stock worth $11,984,482 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $349.39 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $346.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $344.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $235.84 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology and holding company founded in 2015 through a restructuring of Google. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and operates globally, serving consumers, businesses, advertisers and developers across numerous countries and regions.

Alphabet's largest business is Google Services, which includes Google Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and hardware products such as Pixel devices. These products support activities including internet search, digital content distribution, mobile computing, online communications and advertising.

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