Welch Financial Planning LLC Invests $761,000 in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Welch Financial Planning LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,430 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $761,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its holdings in 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 valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Wolfe Research dropped 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 reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Argus raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $412.65.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total transaction of $9,859,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $508,028,012.80. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Alphabet stock opened at $382.97 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $337.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $321.26. The firm has a market cap of $4.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.21, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.41%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Q1 results were highlighted as one of the strongest among the Mag 7, with Google Cloud showing accelerating sales growth and broader AI momentum helping investor sentiment. Alphabet and NVIDIA: The Biggest Mag 7 Winners This Earnings Season
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s I/O announcements continued to reinforce Alphabet’s AI story, including new AI search experiences, agent tools, and upcoming AI glasses that suggest the company is expanding beyond traditional search. We tried Google’s AI glasses and they’re almost there
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on the stock, with multiple firms reiterating positive views and new AI ad formats seen as potentially boosting conversions and monetization in Search and Commerce. Alphabet’s new AI ad formats seen boosting conversions and spending
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled a $15 billion Missouri data center investment, underscoring continued capital spending to support AI infrastructure and cloud demand. Google Unveils $15 Billion Missouri Data Center Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed Google’s revamped AI-driven search experience and agent ecosystem, which are strategically important but still too early to measure their near-term financial impact. Google is pitching an AI agent ecosystem to consumers who may not buy it
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo temporarily suspended service in multiple cities after robotaxis drove into flooded roads, adding another safety and execution concern for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit. Waymo suspends freeway rides, pauses Atlanta operations amid safety fixes
• Negative Sentiment: Google’s appeal of the antitrust ruling remains the biggest overhang, since a loss or forced remedies could eventually weigh on the company’s core search and advertising economics. Google appeals US court ruling on search monopoly

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.