Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Counterweight Ventures LLC’s 6th Largest Position

Counterweight Ventures LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,703 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.4% of Counterweight Ventures LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Counterweight Ventures LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,086,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 84.9% during the 1st quarter. Lodestar Private Asset Management LLC now owns 9,375 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,689,000 after acquiring an additional 4,306 shares in the last quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.9% in the first quarter. PAX Financial Group LLC now owns 1,119 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $321,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.7% during the first quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 7,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after buying an additional 265 shares in the last quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.9% during the first quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 58,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,700,000 after buying an additional 2,712 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Flagstone Financial Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Flagstone Financial Management now owns 2,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $847,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street is looking for another strong earnings report from Alphabet, with AI and Google Cloud expected to keep driving growth ahead of the company’s upcoming results. Alphabet Q2 Earnings Preview: What To Expect From Upcoming Report
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google unit joined a €411 million funding round for Proxima Fusion, reinforcing its interest in frontier energy and other long-duration AI-adjacent opportunities. Google, RWE back Proxima Fusion in €411 million financing round
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlighting Alphabet as a potential “forever holding” for Berkshire-style investors may be helping reinforce the stock’s long-term AI and cash-flow appeal. Prediction: This Magnificent Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Will Become Berkshire’s Next Forever Holding
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet announced that its Made by Google Pixel event will be held on August 12, which could build anticipation for new hardware updates but is not a major fundamental catalyst by itself. Google’s Pixel event is set for August 12
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary comparing Alphabet with Palantir and Taiwan Semiconductor keeps Alphabet in the center of AI-stock debates, but these are mostly valuation and relative-performance discussions rather than direct business news. Palantir Vs. Google: Why Palantir is Surging in July and Should Investors Buy it Over Google?
• Negative Sentiment: TechCrunch reported that Google is expanding AI training to include more user-uploaded media, which could raise fresh privacy concerns and fuel scrutiny over how customer data is used. If you use Google, you’re training its AI. Here’s how to opt out.
• Negative Sentiment: Business Insider noted that Google’s status as a top tech employer is becoming less certain as AI-linked salary competition pushes some talent elsewhere, which could add pressure to retention. Google’s status as the dream tech job is changing. FOMO over AI salaries is only one reason why.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

Alphabet stock opened at $363.62 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $173.88 and a one year high of $404.47. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $369.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $334.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.81 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $376.19.

Alphabet 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.