Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Holdings Lessened by Compass Capital Management Inc.

Compass Capital Management Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 204,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 29,749 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.5% of Compass Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Compass Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $58,797,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $354.30 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.60 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $355.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $340.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue reportedly increased 82% in the second quarter, with backlog reaching $514 billion, while the Gemini app reached approximately 950 million monthly active users. The results reinforce the commercial demand supporting Alphabet’s AI and cloud investments. Google’s AI business is booming, so why are DeepMind’s biggest names quitting?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to highlight Alphabet’s strong cash generation, balance sheet and valuation relative to its growth prospects. Some market models see the shares reaching $400 as Cloud momentum and AI monetization continue. Price Prediction: Google Will Hit $400 on This Date
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s expanded Google Cloud partnership with AI lab Mirendil, reportedly worth more than $100 million over multiple years, provides another example of demand for its computing infrastructure. Mirendil Google Cloud deal

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price target (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.86.

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.