Simon Quick Advisors LLC Sells 4,386 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Simon Quick Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 20,459 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,386 shares during the period. Simon Quick Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,883,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co grew its holdings in Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $326.56 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $361.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $338.98. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.82 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 17.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Evercore upped their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial set a $420.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts continue to support Alphabet’s AI strategy, with several firms maintaining bullish ratings despite trimming price targets to reflect heavier capital expenditures. Investors appear to view the pullback as a buying opportunity. GOOG stock rebounds as Wall Street continues to back AI strategy despite PT cuts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s second-quarter performance exceeded expectations, including $119.8 billion in revenue and $9.11 in adjusted earnings per share versus consensus of $117.07 billion and $2.89, respectively. Search demand and Google Cloud growth remain key areas of momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports suggest Alphabet’s biggest AI concern—whether its investments can generate meaningful demand and returns—may be easing. Cloud growth, enterprise adoption and early AI monetization support the case for continued investment. Forget AI Capex Concerns – Buy Alphabet After Excellent Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: YouTube reached a multiyear agreement to include NBCUniversal’s Peacock content in YouTube Premium subscriptions, potentially strengthening the platform’s entertainment offering and subscriber value beginning in 2027. NBCUniversal and YouTube ink deal to embed Peacock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and investors remain divided over Alphabet’s raised 2026 capital-spending forecast of approximately $195 billion to $205 billion. The spending should support AI data centers, Cloud capacity and future growth, but returns will depend on sustained demand.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly spent about $44.9 billion on AI-related investment during the quarter, producing negative free cash flow for the first time as a public company. The deterioration has intensified concerns about spending discipline and the risk that AI returns take longer than expected. Google spent $490 million a day on AI
• Negative Sentiment: Broader technology stocks are not being rewarded for strong earnings, suggesting investors are scrutinizing valuations, capital intensity and future cash flow more closely. This limits the potential upside from Alphabet’s earnings beat.
• Negative Sentiment: A reported privacy issue involving publicly searchable Claude conversations and user-created files on Google search could create reputational or regulatory concerns, although the incident primarily involves Anthropic’s sharing controls. Claude shared chats and Artifacts found on Google

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.