Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Sold by Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 142,221 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,031 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 3.4% of Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $48,935,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Core Capital Management & Research inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $41,000. Intelligent Financial Strategies purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Premier Financial Group bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $45,000. Finally, Van Den Berg Management I Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 319.6% during the first quarter. Van Den Berg Management I Inc. now owns 214 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Susquehanna dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $460.00 to $400.00 and set a “positive” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $325.00 price objective (down from $385.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $480.00 target price (up from $465.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, October 20th. DA Davidson dropped their price target on Alphabet from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $412.51.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $280.03 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $270.70 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $336.39 and a 200 day moving average of $339.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 14.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by ($0.90). The business had revenue of $127.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 50.03% and a return on equity of 43.33%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 19,076 shares of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold 247 shares of company stock worth $79,238 in the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue more than doubled year over year in the latest quarter, and its reported backlog was about $561 billion, highlighting strong enterprise demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is in preliminary discussions related to the U.S. “Golden Dome” defense initiative. A contract could create a new, recurring revenue stream and help monetize its infrastructure investments, though no deal has been confirmed. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google plans to make its AI tools opt-in for K-12 students, responding to concerns from educators and policymakers. Reports that restricting AI could also limit Search have drawn political criticism, creating reputational risk while the company adjusts its school policies. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent earnings concerns continue to weigh on the outlook: Alphabet missed quarterly EPS expectations, Search growth slowed, and AI-generated results may produce less advertising revenue than traditional Search. ChatGPT’s search volume is also reported at roughly 20% of Google’s, underscoring competition for users. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy AI infrastructure spending pushed free cash flow negative, and management expects capital expenditures to rise further. That raises questions about when the investment will generate sufficient returns and may help explain continued pressure on the shares after earnings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms publicized an existing securities class action concerning alleged statements about Gemini 3.5 Pro training results. The repeated notices do not indicate separate new cases, but the litigation could add legal and reputational risk. Read More.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known for its Google subsidiary. Google operates a global internet-services business centered on online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a broad range of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

Google Cloud provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software services to businesses, governments, and other organizations. Alphabet also develops consumer hardware, including Pixel devices and products for connected homes, while investing in emerging businesses through its “Other Bets” segment, including autonomous transportation and life sciences initiatives.

Alphabet was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that made Google a subsidiary and provided a separate structure for its expanding portfolio of businesses.