Shelter Rock Management LLC Buys Shares of 25,457 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Shelter Rock Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 25,457 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,967,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 8.0% of Shelter Rock Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 23.6% in the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,241 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 5.4% in the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,652,000 after acquiring an additional 3,740 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $405,131,000 after acquiring an additional 60,831 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting 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’

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 target price (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 1st. Dbs Bank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

GOOGL stock opened at $368.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $352.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $327.81. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.