Sigma Planning Corp Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Sigma Planning Corp reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 137,435 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,869 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of Sigma Planning Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,425,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 34.0% during the 4th 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. TD Cowen increased their price target on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. KeyCorp set a $445.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.44.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $346.12 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $184.73 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $366.29 and a 200-day moving average of $336.65.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the company earned $2.81 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

More 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.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,345,358.56. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. Insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.