Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 101,533 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,711 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.8% of Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,861,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 29,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,381,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 354,529 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,345,000 after purchasing an additional 84,553 shares during the period. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 221,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,920,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 60,739 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,060,000 after purchasing an additional 4,239 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Steginsky Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Steginsky Capital LLC now owns 680,588 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,757,000 after buying an additional 6,523 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet signed a major cloud-computing agreement with SpaceX, with reports putting the deal at about $920 million per month for 32 months, which could provide a meaningful revenue stream and reinforce demand for Google Cloud. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s municipal-bond debut drew strong investor demand, suggesting institutions still view the company as a high-quality borrower with flexible financing options. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Some investors and analysts said the equity raise is a strategic move to accelerate AI infrastructure and may help Alphabet defend and expand its long-term leadership in search, cloud, and AI. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also appeared in commentary about AI-related partnerships, including potential indirect benefits from the SpaceX IPO and other cloud collaborations, but these are mostly longer-term strategic themes rather than immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street coverage focused heavily on Alphabet’s expanding capital expenditures, with some commentators warning that the AI buildout may be getting too expensive and could pressure free cash flow. Article Title

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $365.76 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.33 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $350.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $327.07.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $470.00 target price (up from $420.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $376.00.

About Alphabet

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.