Wealth Care LLC Buys New Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Wealth Care LLC disclosed a new first-quarter stake in Alphabet, buying 1,919 shares worth about $552,000. The filing also noted that institutional investors now own about 40.03% of Alphabet.
• Wall Street sentiment remains positive overall, with analysts assigning Alphabet a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $413.54. Recent firms raised targets as high as $465 and $515, though one firm downgraded the stock to hold.
• Alphabet continues to show strong fundamentals, reporting Q1 EPS of $5.11 versus estimates of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share, and recent news highlighted Waymo expansion, AI infrastructure demand, and Berkshire Hathaway’s reported investment as positive catalysts.

Wealth Care LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,919 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $552,000.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. President Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Citizens Jmp restated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Freedom Capital lowered Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Two investment 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the 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. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $361.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $172.77 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $372.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $335.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.39 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Waymo plans to expand driverless rides to four more major cities this year, with a phased rollout that could broaden Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle opportunity and reinforce its leadership in robotaxis. Waymo Plans to Expand Driverless Cars to 4 More Major Cities This Year
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to be highlighted as a beneficiary of massive AI infrastructure spending, with analysts pointing to strong demand for cloud expansion, data centers, and AI hardware. 3 Top-Ranked Stocks Riding on Massive AI Infrastructure Spending
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet was cited as an indirect way to gain exposure to Anthropic ahead of a possible IPO, since the company already holds a major private stake in the AI startup. Want Anthropic Exposure Before the IPO? These 2 AI Giants Are Already There (GOOGL)
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly added a $10 billion private placement investment in Alphabet, a sign of institutional confidence that could support sentiment in the stock. Warren Buffett's Berkshire Successor, Greg Abel, Just Bought More of This Magnificent Tech Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Cognizant deepened its Google Cloud partnership to accelerate enterprise AI adoption, which underscores Alphabet’s cloud relevance but is not a direct financial catalyst by itself. Cognizant Strengthens AI Portfolio Through Google Cloud Partnership
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s upcoming Pixel launch event on August 12 keeps hardware in view, but this is more of a product-calendar reminder than an immediate stock-moving catalyst. Google's Pixel event is set for August 12
• Negative Sentiment: Google updated the Chrome Web Store to ban prediction market transactions, a policy move that may be seen as restrictive and could attract backlash from affected users and developers. Google Bans Prediction Market Transactions Amid Backlash
• Negative Sentiment: One article noted Alphabet shares were already slipping versus the broader market, adding to the intraday weakness as traders weigh valuation and AI competition concerns. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.