Absher Wealth Management LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Absher Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.4% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 111,385 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,902 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 4.1% of Absher Wealth Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Absher Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,863,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Symmetry Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,476,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co raised its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,489,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,728 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $541,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. Finally, White Wing Wealth Management raised its position in Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. White Wing Wealth Management now owns 1,155 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $362,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $387.35 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $323.56 and a 200 day moving average of $314.66. The stock has a market cap of $4.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.26. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $156.16 and a 12 month high of $402.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. The trade was a 22.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 158,553 shares of company stock worth $47,951,856 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Wolfe Research lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $425.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $407.86.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is rolling out Gemini-powered Android features that let AI understand screen context and complete multi-step tasks, strengthening its AI platform and expanding practical use cases across its ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Google is bringing “agentic” AI, Gemini in Chrome, and new AI-native “Googlebooks” laptops to market, signaling a broader product cycle that could support future revenue growth and keep Alphabet competitive with Apple and other tech giants.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s partnership with Affirm and Klarna to embed pay-over-time options into Gemini and Google Search could boost commerce activity, improve conversion rates, and make Google Pay more valuable to consumers and merchants.
• Positive Sentiment: Google-backed Isomorphic Labs raised $2.1 billion to scale AI-driven drug discovery, underscoring investor enthusiasm for Alphabet’s broader AI ecosystem and the value of its venture investments.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is exploring first-ever yen bond financing to fund AI infrastructure suggest the company is willing to invest aggressively in compute capacity, which investors may view as necessary to defend and extend its AI lead.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Alphabet nearing Nvidia in market value and being at the center of the AI boom highlights strong momentum, but these are more market narratives than immediate fundamental catalysts.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s heavier AI spending and new debt issuance may pressure near-term margins and raise concerns that the company is trading balance-sheet strength for a more capital-intensive growth strategy.
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s robotaxi recall over a self-driving software issue is a reminder that Alphabet’s broader “Other Bets” businesses still carry operational and regulatory execution risks.

Alphabet Company 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.