Verus Capital Partners LLC Has $38.63 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Verus Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.2% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 134,344 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 15,680 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.6% of Verus Capital Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue reportedly increased 82% in the second quarter, with backlog reaching $514 billion, while the Gemini app reached approximately 950 million monthly active users. The results reinforce the commercial demand supporting Alphabet’s AI and cloud investments. Google’s AI business is booming, so why are DeepMind’s biggest names quitting?
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to highlight Alphabet’s strong cash generation, balance sheet and valuation relative to its growth prospects. Some market models see the shares reaching $400 as Cloud momentum and AI monetization continue. Price Prediction: Google Will Hit $400 on This Date
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s expanded Google Cloud partnership with AI lab Mirendil, reportedly worth more than $100 million over multiple years, provides another example of demand for its computing infrastructure. Mirendil Google Cloud deal

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $354.30 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $355.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $340.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $196.60 and a one year high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.80, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total value of $27,337.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,305,738.46. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. Company 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.