Portus Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 2,223 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Portus Wealth Advisors cut its Alphabet stake by 47.7% in the first quarter, selling 2,223 shares and leaving it with 2,437 shares worth about $701,000.
• Alphabet insiders have also been trimming holdings, with recent sales by Director Frances Arnold and CAO Marsida Saraci; insiders sold 160,465 shares worth about $8.0 million over the last 90 days.
• Despite the selling, Wall Street remains broadly positive on GOOGL, with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and an average target price of $413.54, while the company also reported strong quarterly results and raised its dividend.

Portus Wealth Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 47.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,437 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,223 shares during the period. Portus Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $701,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors increased its position in Alphabet by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $86,000,000 after buying an additional 23,107 shares during the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,902,000. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,736,000 after buying an additional 2,678 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. This represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. CICC Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Arete Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $393.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.54.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $359.91 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $172.77 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The firm's 50 day moving average is $371.05 and its 200-day moving average is $334.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.45, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

More Alphabet News

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 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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