Walter Public Investments Inc. Sells 15,911 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Walter Public Investments Inc. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 23.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 52,005 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 15,911 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 4.3% of Walter Public Investments Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding. Walter Public Investments Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,720,000 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 bought and sold shares of GOOG. Readystate Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $45,352,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the second quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 369,922,502 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $130,704,718,000 after acquiring an additional 5,164,200 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 2.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 190,923,442 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $67,458,980,000 after acquiring an additional 5,208,690 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its stake in Alphabet by 22.9% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 21,922,379 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,288,654,000 after acquiring an additional 4,083,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the second quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 17,313,729 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,117,460,000 after acquiring an additional 913,666 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $295.35 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $326.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $336.19. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $271.41 and a 12-month high of $404.47. The firm has a market cap of $3.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.41, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.01 by ($0.89). Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. The company had revenue of $127.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.97 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.87 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 24.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.74 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 7th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,494,424.20. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 247 shares of company stock valued at $79,238. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

These are some of the GOOG stories that stood out recently:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet could benefit from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s reported departure, which may encourage cloud customers to diversify chip suppliers and challenge Nvidia’s premium pricing. Google’s Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) and its chip investments position it to compete for AI-computing demand. Nvidia succession uncertainty opens door for Google TPU and Broadcom, analyst says
• Positive Sentiment: Google DeepMind introduced AlphaGenome 2, an AI model designed to help researchers interpret DNA and cellular activity. The launch highlights potential applications for Alphabet’s AI technology beyond its core businesses. Alphabet’s DeepMind unveils new AlphaGenome 2 model
• Negative Sentiment: A separate lawsuit seeking to halt frontier AI development could create uncertainty for Google’s AI plans if it leads to restrictions or additional compliance burdens. OpenAI, Google, Anthropic hit with lawsuit seeking halt to frontier AI development

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $325.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Freedom Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. New Street Research reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $455.00 to $405.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on Alphabet from $425.00 to $375.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.38.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet is a technology holding company whose primary business is Google. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google became part of Alphabet when the company adopted a holding-company structure in 2015. Sundar Pichai leads Alphabet and Google as chief executive officer. Google offers internet search, online advertising, cloud computing, and software and hardware products. Its services and products include Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and Google Cloud.