Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.

Gibraltar Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 65,796 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,859 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 3.5% of Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Gibraltar Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,647,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares in the last quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 76.2% in the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,865,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $330,886,000 after purchasing an additional 806,681 shares in the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $658,000. Financial Advisors Network Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 7.7% in the second quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 7,945 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,409,000 after purchasing an additional 565 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 10.7% in the second quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 37,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,618,000 after purchasing an additional 3,616 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google said it likely stopped a hacker group from using AI to plan a large-scale cyberattack, underscoring the strength of its cybersecurity capabilities and reducing the risk of a major breach. Reuters: Hackers pushing innovation in AI-enabled hacking operations, Google says
• Positive Sentiment: Investor commentary remained upbeat on Alphabet’s AI, cloud, and Gemini momentum, with some coverage arguing the company could challenge Nvidia as the world’s most valuable company. MSN: Alphabet could overtake Nvidia as world’s largest company
• Neutral Sentiment: Google Finance is expanding in Europe, adding another AI-focused product initiative, but this is more of a long-term growth story than an immediate stock-moving catalyst. PYMNTS: Google Finance Continues AI-Focused Expansion With EU Launch

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $375.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Freedom Capital downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $362.73.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $386.77 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $157.58 and a 1 year high of $398.37. The company has a market cap of $4.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $320.46 and a 200-day moving average of $313.53.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th 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%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 158,553 shares of company stock valued at $47,951,856. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.