Sunbelt Securities Inc. Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Sunbelt Securities Inc. trimmed its Alphabet stake by 5.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,195 shares and leaving it with 38,175 shares valued at about $11.95 million.
• Alphabet continues to draw strong attention from major investors and analysts, with most Wall Street firms rating the stock a Buy and a consensus price target of $413.13.
• Recent headlines highlight both upside and risk: Alphabet is being seen as an AI winner with growing cloud momentum, but it is also facing pressure from AI talent departures, Waymo robotaxi recalls, and UK regulatory scrutiny of Google Search.

Sunbelt Securities Inc. reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 38,175 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,195 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.8% of Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest position. Sunbelt Securities Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,949,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Kentucky Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th 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 during the period. Finally, Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is being viewed as a major AI winner thanks to ongoing investment in AI infrastructure and data centers, which could support future cloud and AI revenue growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Berkshire Hathaway nearly tripled its Alphabet position may be seen as a strong vote of confidence from a major long-term investor. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage emphasizing Alphabet’s strong earnings and expanding Google Cloud backlog supports the case for continued fundamental improvement. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s stock is drawing increased investor attention and analyst commentary, but these are mostly sentiment-driven mentions rather than new company-specific catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Noam Shazeer, a top Google DeepMind/Gemini AI leader, is leaving for OpenAI, underscoring the competitive AI talent war. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: John Jumper is also departing Google DeepMind for Anthropic, adding to concerns that Alphabet may be losing key AI researchers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s recall of nearly 3,900 robotaxis after construction-zone driving errors raises safety and regulatory concerns for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle business. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The UK ordering Google to improve search-ranking transparency highlights continued regulatory scrutiny over its core search business. Article Title

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was 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 approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. The trade was a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Roth Mkm restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $435.00 target price (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $368.48 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $408.61. The company's fifty day moving average price is $367.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $331.95. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company 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%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

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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