Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is GDS Wealth Management’s 6th Largest Position

GDS Wealth Management decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,524 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,395 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.4% of GDS Wealth Management’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. GDS Wealth Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,350,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,096,289,000. Blalock Williams LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Blalock Williams LLC now owns 11,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,743,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares in the last quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Acorn Creek Capital LLC now owns 3,375 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,056,000 after purchasing an additional 185 shares in the last quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. CapWealth Advisors LLC now owns 54,061 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Essex Bank grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.4% during the fourth quarter. Essex Bank now owns 27,422 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,583,000 after purchasing an additional 2,575 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $388.91 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $334.65 and a 200 day moving average of $320.07. The company has a market capitalization of $4.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.67, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% 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. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google I/O showcase highlighted a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, coding, and video tools, reinforcing expectations that Google can monetize AI rather than just defend against competitors. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Google and Blackstone announced a $5 billion joint venture to build AI cloud infrastructure powered by Google’s TPU chips, which could expand demand for Alphabet’s custom silicon and strengthen its enterprise AI ecosystem. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts turned more constructive after I/O, with firms including BofA, KeyCorp, Citizens JMP, Needham, and others reiterating or raising targets, signaling confidence that Alphabet’s AI strategy is gaining traction. Alphabet analyst forecasts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet said Gemini now has 900 million monthly users and AI Overviews has 2.5 billion monthly users, showing that its AI products are already operating at significant scale. Google kicks off I/O conference with AI upgrades for coders, consumers
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet also introduced new AI-powered search and shopping features, including agentic tools and a universal cart, which could open additional monetization opportunities. Google’s new Universal Cart wants to follow you across the entire internet
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider and shareholder sales were disclosed, including a director sale and a larger shareholder sale, but these appear to be routine filings rather than a clear signal of changing fundamentals. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Ofcom said YouTube and TikTok have not done enough to protect British children from harmful content, adding another layer of regulatory scrutiny for Alphabet’s YouTube business. TikTok, YouTube lag on UK child safety as rivals act, regulator says
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors worry that Google’s AI-heavy search redesign could pressure its core ad model by reducing reliance on the traditional “ten blue links” format. Google Search as you know it is over

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $435.00 price objective (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $412.65.

Alphabet 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.