Paulson Wealth Management Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Paulson Wealth Management cut its Alphabet stake by 36.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,873 shares and ending with 5,052 shares valued at about $1.58 million.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on Alphabet, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.04.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates, and it also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.

Paulson Wealth Management Inc. lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 36.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,052 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,873 shares during the quarter. Paulson Wealth Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. China Renaissance upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Arete Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, New Street Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.04.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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. Insiders sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s $10 billion investment signals strong outside confidence in Alphabet’s AI and cloud strategy. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to argue that Alphabet remains a high-margin cash generator with attractive long-term earnings power. Google: AI Skeptics Proven Wrong as Business Booms
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of Alphabet’s expanding AI coding, hardware, and device strategy highlights broader growth opportunities, but it is not the main driver of today’s move. Microsoft and Google are late to AI coding, but 'absolutely critical' they compete for growth
• Negative Sentiment: The proposed $80 billion stock sale raises dilution concerns and underscores how expensive Alphabet’s AI race has become. Exclusive: EU cloud rules to curb Amazon, Google access to strategic tenders, draft document shows
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that EU cloud rules could restrict Google’s access to strategic government tenders add a regulatory overhang for the cloud business. Alphabet to raise $80 billion in equity capital for AI spending

Alphabet Trading Down 3.9%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $361.85 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $347.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $325.75. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

About Alphabet

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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