Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Principal Financial Group Inc.

Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,361,802 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 748,823 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.8% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,703,003,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% in the first quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evansbrook LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 9,522 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,738,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore boosted their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America upped their price target on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $420.19.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 451,945 shares of company stock valued at $12,382,714. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt upgraded Alphabet to “strong buy” and reiterated a $410 price target, implying substantial upside and reinforcing the bullish view following Alphabet’s strong earnings report. Alphabet upgraded by Rosenblatt Securities
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI spending continues to attract major customers and suppliers. Marvell’s custom-chip agreement includes a warrant structure that would require up to $120 billion of cumulative purchases from Google for full vesting, signaling the potentially enormous scale of Alphabet’s TPU and AI infrastructure buildout. Google’s Marvell warrant
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo received approval to operate up to thousands of commercial robotaxis in Nevada and opened its lower-cost next-generation vehicle to riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Lower production and operating costs could improve the long-term economics of Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit. Waymo Nevada robotaxi approval
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s earnings momentum remains a support for the stock. The company recently exceeded consensus estimates for both adjusted earnings and revenue, while analysts and prominent investors—including Berkshire Hathaway—continue to highlight Alphabet’s AI positioning and valuation.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $344.82 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $201.30 and a 12-month high of $408.61. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $352.00 and its 200-day simple moving average is $341.35. The firm has a market cap of $4.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.32, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

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.