Sapient Capital LLC Sells 210,242 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sapient Capital LLC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 25.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 627,201 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 210,242 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.7% of Sapient Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Sapient Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $180,290,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY grew its position in Alphabet by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $354.30 on Monday. 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 simple moving average of $355.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $340.49. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.60 and a 12-month high of $408.61.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. China Renaissance upped their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Evercore upped their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total value of $27,337.98. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at $6,305,738.46. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.