Modera Wealth Management LLC Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Modera Wealth Management LLC cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.8% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 91,839 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,724 shares during the period. Modera Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,409,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Zacks Research raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price target (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $326.56 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $361.53 and a 200 day moving average of $338.98. 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 has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.82 and a 12 month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.07 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 17.59 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts continue to support Alphabet’s AI strategy, with several firms maintaining bullish ratings despite trimming price targets to reflect heavier capital expenditures. Investors appear to view the pullback as a buying opportunity. GOOG stock rebounds as Wall Street continues to back AI strategy despite PT cuts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s second-quarter performance exceeded expectations, including $119.8 billion in revenue and $9.11 in adjusted earnings per share versus consensus of $117.07 billion and $2.89, respectively. Search demand and Google Cloud growth remain key areas of momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports suggest Alphabet’s biggest AI concern—whether its investments can generate meaningful demand and returns—may be easing. Cloud growth, enterprise adoption and early AI monetization support the case for continued investment. Forget AI Capex Concerns – Buy Alphabet After Excellent Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: YouTube reached a multiyear agreement to include NBCUniversal’s Peacock content in YouTube Premium subscriptions, potentially strengthening the platform’s entertainment offering and subscriber value beginning in 2027. NBCUniversal and YouTube ink deal to embed Peacock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and investors remain divided over Alphabet’s raised 2026 capital-spending forecast of approximately $195 billion to $205 billion. The spending should support AI data centers, Cloud capacity and future growth, but returns will depend on sustained demand.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly spent about $44.9 billion on AI-related investment during the quarter, producing negative free cash flow for the first time as a public company. The deterioration has intensified concerns about spending discipline and the risk that AI returns take longer than expected. Google spent $490 million a day on AI
• Negative Sentiment: Broader technology stocks are not being rewarded for strong earnings, suggesting investors are scrutinizing valuations, capital intensity and future cash flow more closely. This limits the potential upside from Alphabet’s earnings beat.
• Negative Sentiment: A reported privacy issue involving publicly searchable Claude conversations and user-created files on Google search could create reputational or regulatory concerns, although the incident primarily involves Anthropic’s sharing controls. Claude shared chats and Artifacts found on Google

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the sale, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.