Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Purchased by Westmount Partners LLC

Westmount Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 20.1% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 16,036 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,683 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Westmount Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. Westmount Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,600,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. Nations Financial Group Inc. IA ADV now owns 31,726 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,101,000 after purchasing an additional 5,315 shares in the last quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. Brady Martz Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 1,007 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $1,699,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $4,941,000. Finally, Painted Porch Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.1% in the fourth quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 4,051 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,271,000 after buying an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction of $38,862.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. The trade was a 0.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,604 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Key AI researchers have left Alphabet for competitors, intensifying worries that the company is losing critical talent needed to lead in generative AI. Reuters: Google DeepMind signs AI research deal with film studio A24
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also worried that Alphabet’s aggressive AI spending plans, including a large equity raise to fund infrastructure and compute, could dilute shareholders and pressure free cash flow. Quiver Quantitative: Alphabet Slides as AI Funding Plan Fuels Dilution Worries
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also announced a $75 million AI research partnership with A24, showing it is still investing in new AI use cases, but this was overshadowed by the talent-loss narrative. TechCrunch: Google DeepMind bets $75M on AI’s future in Hollywood with A24 deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent fundamentals remain strong, with Alphabet’s latest quarter beating expectations on both earnings and revenue, which helps offset some of the negative sentiment. Alphabet stock page

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $435.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $376.78.

Alphabet Stock Down 5.1%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $348.78 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $163.33 and a 52 week high of $404.47. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $364.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $331.41. The firm has a market cap of $4.23 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.81 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Alphabet Company 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.