Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 1,748 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 33.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,458 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,748 shares during the quarter. Flagship Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $994,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 in the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $354.30 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $196.60 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $355.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $340.41.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for 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%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

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

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.