Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Blue Fin Capital Inc.’s 4th Largest Position

Blue Fin Capital Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.1% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 102,231 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,167 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 4.8% of Blue Fin Capital Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Blue Fin Capital Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $29,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Ruggaard & Associates LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $840,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Cadia Private Client LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Midwest Professional Planners LTD. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 2,364 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $680,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $354.30 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $355.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $340.41. The company has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.60 and a 1-year high of $408.61.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. New Street Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 target price (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Key Alphabet News

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. The trade was a 0.43% 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 Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.