Verus Capital Partners LLC Buys 15,680 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Verus Capital Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.2% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 134,344 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,680 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.6% of Verus Capital Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Verus Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank grew its position in Alphabet by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Alphabet News

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. China Renaissance upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total transaction of $27,337.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $354.30 on Friday. 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 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $355.68 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $340.41. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $196.60 and a 1-year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during 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%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

About Alphabet

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.