PFG Investments LLC Purchases 2,269 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• PFG Investments LLC increased its Alphabet stake by 2.6% in the first quarter, buying 2,269 additional shares and bringing its total holdings to 89,299 shares worth about $25.7 million.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted positions in GOOGL, and institutional ownership remains high at 40.03% of the stock.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on Alphabet, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $413.92; the company also recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

PFG Investments LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 89,299 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.2% of PFG Investments LLC's holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. PFG Investments LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $25,679,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kelman Lazarov Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the first quarter. Kelman Lazarov Inc. now owns 13,518 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,887,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Baer Investment Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the first quarter worth about $5,950,000. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% during the first quarter. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC now owns 11,062 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,181,000 after buying an additional 327 shares in the last quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Canal Capital Management LLC now owns 50,501 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,522,000 after buying an additional 793 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. now owns 2,848 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $779,000 after buying an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Barclays restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $415.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Two investment 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.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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 Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $357.18. 18,122,822 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 32,870,564. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $372.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $336.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $176.48 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

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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