Norris Financial Group LLC Invests $3.78 Million in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Norris Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 13,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,782,000. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of Norris Financial Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 26th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 2,364 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the first quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $730,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. President Capital raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 target price (up from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Arete Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 stock was sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total value of $27,337.98. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 in the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

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 Trading Down 1.0%

GOOGL opened at $354.30 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $196.60 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a fifty day moving average of $355.68 and a 200-day moving average of $340.41. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.