Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Position Trimmed by HS Management Partners LLC

HS Management Partners LLC decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 30.6% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 72,018 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 31,796 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 7.2% of HS Management Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. HS Management Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,659,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Ring Mountain Capital LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. now owns 1,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the first quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Certior Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Certior Financial Group LLC now owns 919 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $288,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Summary

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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG 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. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $369.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $334.35. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $173.88 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $416.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Freedom Capital cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $470.00 target price (up from $420.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price 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.