GLOBALT Investments LLC GA Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

GLOBALT Investments LLC GA boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 95,806 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,371 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.1% of GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. GLOBALT Investments LLC GA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $29,987,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sequent Planning LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.8% in the 4th quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 16,242 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,084,000 after acquiring an additional 4,009 shares during the period. Sherry Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $416,000. Odyssey Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $2,417,000. CDM Financial Counseling Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $1,182,000. Finally, TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 96,766 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,288,000 after acquiring an additional 2,946 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Freedom Capital cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Dbs Bank raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Arete Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet secured a major cloud deal with SpaceX, adding a high-profile customer and boosting the investment case for its AI infrastructure business. SpaceX signs cloud deal with Google
• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research raised its price target on Alphabet to $455 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued Wall Street confidence. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports said Google’s AI search and chatbot products faced criticism after an audit found many chatbot responses on elections were flawed, which may keep pressure on Alphabet’s AI credibility. Over 90% of AI chatbot answers about midterm elections are flawed, stunning analysis shows
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s large equity raise and higher AI capex guidance are still weighing on sentiment because investors are questioning how quickly those investments will pay off. Alphabet is seeking fresh capital as stock’s 4-week losing streak tests investor appetite
• Negative Sentiment: Google also faces regulatory pressure in the UK over publisher-content rules in AI search, adding another policy risk for the business. Google search facing UK ‘conduct requirement’

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $368.53 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $352.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $327.81. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.00 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.