Nicholas Wealth LLC. Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Nicholas Wealth LLC cut its Alphabet stake by 27.8% in the first quarter, selling 1,866 shares and leaving it with 4,848 shares worth about $1.39 million.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 beating estimates by $2.47 and revenue of $109.9 billion topping forecasts. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.
• Despite some insider selling and ongoing legal overhangs, Wall Street remains largely positive on GOOGL, with analysts assigning a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $413.54.

Nicholas Wealth LLC. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 27.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,848 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,866 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.0% of Nicholas Wealth LLC.'s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Nicholas Wealth LLC.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $45,625,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after buying an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $359.91 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $371.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $334.41. The stock has a market cap of $4.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.45, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $172.77 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. CICC Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Two equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.54.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several recent stories highlight Alphabet’s AI and cloud momentum, including Google Cloud traction with enterprise customers like Jack Henry and growing use of Google’s cloud tech by Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo, which supports the bull case for future growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer argued that Alphabet still looks cheap, reinforcing a valuation-supportive narrative for GOOGL after its pullback. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with Wells Fargo keeping an overweight rating and multiple analysts maintaining buy recommendations, which may help support the stock. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s insider selling by John Kent Walker appears routine and is not, by itself, a major fundamental concern for investors. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around Alphabet’s growing role in AI-powered shopping, robotaxis, and other ecosystem developments adds to the long-term story, but these are more thesis-supportive than immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The biggest drag is the EU Supreme Court decision upholding Alphabet’s €4.1 billion Android antitrust fine, which reinforces legal and regulatory overhangs for the stock. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: A separate Swedish court ruling ordered Alphabet to pay nearly $2 billion in a price-comparison dispute, adding to the sense that antitrust and competition risks remain active. Article Title

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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