Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co Sells 8,500 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co trimmed its Alphabet stake by 8,500 shares in the fourth quarter, a 0.5% reduction. It still held 1.6 million shares valued at about $501.5 million, making Alphabet its 8th-largest position.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 beating estimates by a wide margin and revenue of $109.9 billion topping forecasts. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.
• Despite some insider selling and a slight dip in the stock, Wall Street remains bullish on Alphabet, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $412.65. Recent AI-related product launches and cloud growth are helping support the outlook, though antitrust concerns remain an overhang.

Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,602,199 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,500 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 3.0% of Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Varma Mutual Pension Insurance Co's holdings in Alphabet were worth $501,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $416,217,000. Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,171,000 after buying an additional 8,746 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,652,000 after purchasing an additional 3,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its position in Alphabet by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $405,131,000 after purchasing an additional 60,831 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061 over the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $382.97 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.00 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $337.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $321.26. The stock has a market cap of $4.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Research analysts predict 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 paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Argus lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating and issued a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $412.65.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Q1 results were highlighted as one of the strongest among the Mag 7, with Google Cloud showing accelerating sales growth and broader AI momentum helping investor sentiment. Alphabet and NVIDIA: The Biggest Mag 7 Winners This Earnings Season
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s I/O announcements continued to reinforce Alphabet’s AI story, including new AI search experiences, agent tools, and upcoming AI glasses that suggest the company is expanding beyond traditional search. We tried Google's AI glasses and they're almost there
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on the stock, with multiple firms reiterating positive views and new AI ad formats seen as potentially boosting conversions and monetization in Search and Commerce. Alphabet's new AI ad formats seen boosting conversions and spending
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled a $15 billion Missouri data center investment, underscoring continued capital spending to support AI infrastructure and cloud demand. Google Unveils $15 Billion Missouri Data Center Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed Google’s revamped AI-driven search experience and agent ecosystem, which are strategically important but still too early to measure their near-term financial impact. Google is pitching an AI agent ecosystem to consumers who may not buy it
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo temporarily suspended service in multiple cities after robotaxis drove into flooded roads, adding another safety and execution concern for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit. Waymo suspends freeway rides, pauses Atlanta operations amid safety fixes
• Negative Sentiment: Google’s appeal of the antitrust ruling remains the biggest overhang, since a loss or forced remedies could eventually weigh on the company’s core search and advertising economics. Google appeals US court ruling on search monopoly

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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