Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Reduced by Pinnacle Associates Ltd.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 341,301 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,083 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.3% of Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $121,971,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 451,945 shares of company stock valued at $12,382,714. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt upgraded Alphabet to “strong buy” and reiterated a $410 price target, implying substantial upside and reinforcing the bullish view following Alphabet’s strong earnings report. Alphabet upgraded by Rosenblatt Securities
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI spending continues to attract major customers and suppliers. Marvell’s custom-chip agreement includes a warrant structure that would require up to $120 billion of cumulative purchases from Google for full vesting, signaling the potentially enormous scale of Alphabet’s TPU and AI infrastructure buildout. Google’s Marvell warrant
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo received approval to operate up to thousands of commercial robotaxis in Nevada and opened its lower-cost next-generation vehicle to riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Lower production and operating costs could improve the long-term economics of Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit. Waymo Nevada robotaxi approval
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s earnings momentum remains a support for the stock. The company recently exceeded consensus estimates for both adjusted earnings and revenue, while analysts and prominent investors—including Berkshire Hathaway—continue to highlight Alphabet’s AI positioning and valuation.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $460.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. DA Davidson set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, New Street Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Six investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $420.19.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $344.82 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $201.30 and a one year high of $408.61. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $352.00 and a 200-day moving average of $341.37. The company has a market capitalization of $4.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

About Alphabet

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.