Peak Asset Management LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Peak Asset Management LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 88,779 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,839 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 4.7% of Peak Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest position. Peak Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $31,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud expands enterprise AI push: Alphabet and Accenture are launching a joint unit with 1,000 forward-deployed engineers to help businesses implement Google’s AI tools. The partnership could accelerate Cloud adoption, improve monetization and help Alphabet compete more effectively with Microsoft and Amazon. Google Cloud races to catch up in the AI deployment wars with Accenture deal
• Positive Sentiment: Potential power support for AI infrastructure: The U.S. government approved a $1.9 billion loan to NextEra Energy to refurbish an Iowa nuclear plant that Google plans to use for power. Reliable, low-carbon electricity could help support Alphabet’s growing data-center demand, although the benefits are longer term. Google’s revived nuclear power plant gets $1.9B loan from US government
• Positive Sentiment: Google and Cathay Pacific expanded trials of AI technology designed to reduce aircraft contrail warming, adding a potential sustainability and commercial-use case for Google’s AI capabilities. Cathay Pacific, Google expand AI trials to cut climate-warming aircraft contrails

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544 in the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Arete Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 price objective (up from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $420.19.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $338.36 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.99, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $348.34 and its 200 day moving average is $343.37. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $233.23 and a 52-week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology and holding company founded in 2015 through a restructuring of Google. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and operates globally, serving consumers, businesses, advertisers and developers across numerous countries and regions.

Alphabet’s largest business is Google Services, which includes Google Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and hardware products such as Pixel devices. These products support activities including internet search, digital content distribution, mobile computing, online communications and advertising.