Burney Co. Sells 32,804 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Burney Co. trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 239,058 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 32,804 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.1% of Burney Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Burney Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,743,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Warren Buffett said he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s Alphabet investment, a high-profile endorsement that is helping sentiment around Alphabet (GOOGL). Warren Buffett tells CNBC he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst previews say Alphabet’s AI momentum, cloud backlog, and earnings growth expectations could support another strong quarter, keeping investors upbeat ahead of results. Alphabet’s AI Spending Question Looms Over Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Alphabet to strong-buy, citing earnings growth expectations and attractive fundamentals relative to its valuation. Zacks upgrade to strong-buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet expanded its clean-energy commitments with its largest solar and battery storage purchase yet, which supports its long-term infrastructure strategy but is not an immediate earnings driver. Google’s biggest clean power project is 40 miles north of xAI’s unpermitted gas power plant
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also drew attention for a new collaboration with INVIDI Technologies to extend addressable advertising to set-top boxes, a potentially helpful ad-tech expansion but still early-stage. INVIDI Technologies Collaborates with Google to Integrate Google Ad Manager
• Negative Sentiment: The European Commission is preparing new fines against Google, renewing regulatory risk and adding pressure to Alphabet’s legal overhang. EU Prepares to Fine Google as Part of Increased Big Tech Enforcement
• Negative Sentiment: Google is also fighting antitrust scrutiny in Europe and Switzerland, including efforts to preserve a court ruling that overturned a $1.7 billion EU fine and a new Swiss probe over Android search defaults. Google urges EU top court to back ruling scrapping $1.7 billion antitrust fine
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reports raised concerns about Google’s AI search tools and a DeepMind researcher’s resignation over the company’s Pentagon work, both of which could add reputational risk. A DeepMind researcher resigned over its AI military deal

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Bank of America increased their target price on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.73.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $370.92 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $180.48 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $370.84 and a 200-day moving average of $337.62. The company has a market capitalization of $4.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Alphabet Company 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.