Calamos Advisors LLC Buys 77,797 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Calamos Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,001,871 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 77,797 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.0% of Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $287,397,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $31,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.2%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $346.12 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $366.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $336.65. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $184.73 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The company has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm’s revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.81 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,833 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Freedom Capital cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. KeyCorp set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, July 10th. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $383.44.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.