Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Groupama Asset Managment’s 4th Largest Position

Groupama Asset Managment grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 999,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 30,417 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.2% of Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $287,360,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $354.30 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $355.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $340.41. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.60 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.80, a P/E/G ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during 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%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director directly owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. This trade represents a 0.43% 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, 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents 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 valued at $16,255,540 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.