UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp Has $86.30 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 241,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,358 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 4.2% of UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. UNIVEST FINANCIAL Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $86,300,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.0% in the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the first quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the first quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $840,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares during the period. Cadia Private Client LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evansbrook LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 9,522 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,738,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $339.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $206.20 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a 50-day moving average of $349.41 and a 200 day moving average of $342.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Alphabet’s valuation and growth outlook. Citizens analyst Andrew Boone expects the stock to reach a new record high over the next 12 months, while other commentary highlights strong cloud momentum and argues that market concerns about Alphabet may be excessive. Wall Street analyst sets Google price target One Mag 7 Stock to Watch
• Positive Sentiment: Google- and Meta-backed Jio Platforms received approval for an Indian IPO. The listing could provide Alphabet with a potential valuation catalyst for its investment and increase visibility into the value of the stake. Jio Platforms IPO approval
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is balancing record cloud growth against historically high AI-related capital spending. Investors are focused on whether rising infrastructure costs will generate sufficient future revenue and margins compared with Amazon’s spending strategy. Alphabet and Amazon AI capital spending
• Neutral Sentiment: Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares for approximately $27,692, reducing her direct holdings by 0.43%. The relatively small transaction is unlikely to materially change the investment case, but it may attract limited attention amid the stock’s recent volatility. Alphabet insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh scrutiny of Google’s £260 million U.K. app-store settlement added to regulatory pressure. Reports also say Google changed European search rules to avoid a potentially much larger EU revenue penalty, though the concessions could weaken its search economics and competitive position. Google U.K. app-store settlement Google European search rules
• Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to debate whether Meta’s AI products could challenge Google Search and whether Alphabet’s AI investment will pressure returns before producing meaningful new revenue. Concerns about talent departures and the uncertain reception for future Gemini releases are also weighing on sentiment. Meta AI competition with Google Search

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Zacks Research lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. President Capital upped their target price on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $420.19.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544 in the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.