Simplicity Wealth LLC Sells 7,613 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Simplicity Wealth LLC cut its Alphabet stake by 17.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 7,613 shares and leaving it with 35,709 shares valued at about $11.18 million.
• Despite that sale, Alphabet continues to draw strong institutional and analyst support, with several firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus Moderate Buy rating and $410.84 target.
• Alphabet also reported strong fundamentals, including better-than-expected quarterly EPS and revenue, while recently boosting its quarterly dividend from $0.21 to $0.22 per share.

Simplicity Wealth LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 17.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 35,709 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,613 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.7% of Simplicity Wealth LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Simplicity Wealth LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,177,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $69,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Loop Capital raised its price target on Alphabet to $490 and kept a buy rating, while Oppenheimer lifted its target to $445 with an outperform rating, reinforcing confidence in the company’s growth outlook. Loop Capital price target update Oppenheimer price target update
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports pointed to Alphabet’s AI momentum ahead of Google I/O, including growing customer adoption of Gemini Flash and expectations that the event will showcase more AI innovation. Business Insider on Gemini Flash adoption BofA note on Google I/O
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts also raised forward earnings estimates for Alphabet, suggesting continued confidence in monetization and profit growth. Alphabet earnings estimate update
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet completed a record-breaking yen bond sale, giving it fresh funding capacity to expand AI infrastructure while diversifying its financing sources. Yen bond issuance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Alphabet’s YouTube revenue, the company’s role in AI infrastructure, and Bill Ackman’s continued interest in mega-cap tech adds to the positive narrative, but these items are more supportive context than direct catalysts. YouTube revenue article Bill Ackman Mag 7 article
• Neutral Sentiment: Some coverage highlighted Alphabet’s valuation and the broader crowding in AI/mega-cap tech, which could make the stock more vulnerable if sentiment cools. Valuation rerating article UBS crowding warning
• Negative Sentiment: A report that Google may cap new Gmail accounts at 5GB of free storage could be seen as a consumer-unfriendly move and a possible engagement risk if implemented broadly. Gmail storage cap article
• Negative Sentiment: There was also some concern around competition and execution in AI and adjacent hardware, including comparison pieces on Alphabet versus Nvidia and broader AI rivalry. AI competition article

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush upped their price objective on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial upgraded Alphabet from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $405.00 price objective (up from $360.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Alphabet from $357.00 to $393.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $410.84.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $396.78 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $403.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The business's fifty day moving average price is $329.30 and its 200-day moving average price is $317.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 6.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 157,953 shares of company stock worth $47,767,818 in the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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