Rathbones Group PLC Reduces Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Rathbones Group cut its Alphabet stake by 3% in the first quarter, selling 127,004 shares. It still held 4.17 million shares worth approximately $1.2 billion, representing 4.7% of its portfolio.
• Wall Street remains bullish on Alphabet: the stock has an average “Buy” rating and a consensus price target of $419.86, with several analysts recently raising their targets.
• Alphabet reported quarterly EPS of $9.11, well above the $2.89 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $119.8 billion. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.

Rathbones Group PLC lessened its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,165,091 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 127,004 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 4.7% of Rathbones Group PLC's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Rathbones Group PLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,197,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $354.30 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $196.60 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $355.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $340.49. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue reportedly increased 82% in the second quarter, with backlog reaching $514 billion, while the Gemini app reached approximately 950 million monthly active users. The results reinforce the commercial demand supporting Alphabet’s AI and cloud investments. Google's AI business is booming, so why are DeepMind's biggest names quitting?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to highlight Alphabet’s strong cash generation, balance sheet and valuation relative to its growth prospects. Some market models see the shares reaching $400 as Cloud momentum and AI monetization continue. Price Prediction: Google Will Hit $400 on This Date
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s expanded Google Cloud partnership with AI lab Mirendil, reportedly worth more than $100 million over multiple years, provides another example of demand for its computing infrastructure. Mirendil Google Cloud deal

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

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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