Moran Wealth Management LLC Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Moran Wealth Management trimmed its Alphabet position by 4.2% in Q4, selling 3,942 shares to hold 90,551 shares worth $28.342 million (GOOGL is 0.9% of its portfolio and its 16th largest holding).
• Alphabet reported a strong Q1 (EPS $5.11 vs. $2.64 expected and $109.9B revenue) powered by >60% Google Cloud growth, spurring numerous analyst price-target increases and a re-rating of the stock (average target around $397).
• Significant insider selling has occurred recently—John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares (~$14.34M) and insiders have sold 191,053 shares worth ~$58.85M over the past 90 days; insiders still own 11.61% of the company.

Moran Wealth Management LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 90,551 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,942 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 0.9% of Moran Wealth Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Moran Wealth Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $28,342,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $416,217,000. Sovran Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,171,000 after acquiring an additional 8,746 shares during the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $405,131,000 after acquiring an additional 60,831 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,652,000 after acquiring an additional 3,740 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 191,053 shares of company stock worth $58,845,206 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. President Capital raised their price target on Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $397.48.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $385.69 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $147.84 and a twelve month high of $386.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business's fifty day moving average price is $313.72 and its 200 day moving average price is $308.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.41%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings & Google Cloud surge — Alphabet beat on EPS and revenue; Google Cloud grew ~63% to >$20B and backlog jumped near $460B, underpinning earnings momentum and revenue visibility. Alphabet’s Earnings Didn’t Just Beat—They Changed the Story
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street re-rating — Dozens of brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (Goldman, JPMorgan, Citi, Canaccord, etc.), lifting upside expectations and supporting momentum. JPMorgan price target note
• Positive Sentiment: Product & monetization catalysts — Gemini rollout into millions of vehicles and comments about ads in AI-driven Search/Gemini expand potential ad & cloud monetization paths. Google's Gemini hits cars
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial & government demand — The Pentagon signed agreements with leading AI vendors (including Google) to deploy AI tools on classified networks, validating enterprise/government demand for secure AI infrastructure. Pentagon AI agreements
• Positive Sentiment: Market narrative uplift — Coverage arguing Alphabet could challenge Nvidia for top market-cap status and that Google is “winning” the AI cycle is driving momentum flows and investor positioning. Barron's: The First $6 Trillion Company May Not Be Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: CapEx trajectory — Management signaled materially higher CapEx into 2027 to support AI/data centers; that supports future growth but raises near-term investment intensity and cash needs. Seeking Alpha: CapEx concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk — European scrutiny is rising: Italy asked the EU to investigate Google’s AI search features and Swiss regulators opened probes related to keyword bidding; these could lead to fines, remedies or product constraints. Italy asks EU to investigate Google AI search Switzerland probe

Alphabet 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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