Wealthquest Corp Takes $2.65 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Wealthquest Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 8,466 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,650,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $277,696,000 after buying an additional 93,293 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during 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 buying an additional 3,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during 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 buying an additional 60,831 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $368.53 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $352.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $328.11. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.00 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for 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 research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 6.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet secured a major cloud deal with SpaceX, adding a high-profile customer and boosting the investment case for its AI infrastructure business. SpaceX signs cloud deal with Google
• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research raised its price target on Alphabet to $455 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued Wall Street confidence. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports said Google’s AI search and chatbot products faced criticism after an audit found many chatbot responses on elections were flawed, which may keep pressure on Alphabet’s AI credibility. Over 90% of AI chatbot answers about midterm elections are flawed, stunning analysis shows
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s large equity raise and higher AI capex guidance are still weighing on sentiment because investors are questioning how quickly those investments will pay off. Alphabet is seeking fresh capital as stock’s 4-week losing streak tests investor appetite
• Negative Sentiment: Google also faces regulatory pressure in the UK over publisher-content rules in AI search, adding another policy risk for the business. Google search facing UK ‘conduct requirement’

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. CICC Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $445.00 target price (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

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.