Navigation Group LLC Invests $4.14 Million in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Navigation Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 14,422 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,137,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.0% of Navigation Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $31,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A grew its holdings 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 valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $346.12 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $366.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $336.81. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $184.73 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.81 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

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.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’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. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $445.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp set a $445.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $383.44.

About Alphabet

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.