W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 155,749 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,590 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 3.7% of W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $346.12 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $366.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $336.81. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $184.73 and a 1 year high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.81 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wedbush initiated coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $445.00 target price for the company. UBS Group set a $430.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $383.44.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.