Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 38.5% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 12,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,724 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.4% of Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest holding. Steel Grove Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $132,114,125,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Alphabet by 8.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,240,469,000 after acquiring an additional 7,904,434 shares during the last quarter. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $678,198,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $869,781,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $455,745,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to show strong AI momentum, including a reported expansion of its Google Cloud partnership with Lovable and reports that Apple may use Google Cloud to help power a revamped Siri. Those deals reinforce demand for Alphabet’s cloud and AI infrastructure. Lovable signs multi-year deal with Google Cloud to up usage 5x, source says
• Positive Sentiment: Investor confidence appears to be supported by major backers, with Berkshire Hathaway and ARK-related buying cited alongside strong analyst interest and price targets near the low-to-mid $400s. That institutional support is helping offset some of the recent weakness. Google Stock Lures in Both Cathie Wood and Berkshire Hathaway as Giant Investors Rush for a Discount
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI spending plan and equity raise remain the biggest focus: the company increased its planned capital raise to about $84.75 billion to fund AI infrastructure, while also guiding capital expenditures as high as $190 billion. Investors see this as a sign of ambition and demand, but also of heavy near-term spending needs. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also reported strong AI usage trends, including Gemini reaching 900 million users, which supports the long-term growth narrative even as the market debates whether AI returns justify the spending surge. Alphabet’s Gemini AI App Surges to 900 Million Users
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment was pressured by Alphabet’s massive new equity financing, which raised dilution and return-on-capex questions as the company leans harder into AI buildout. Some investors are worried the AI infrastructure race is becoming too expensive. Google Stock Drops on New Data Center Buildout amid $190B Capex Headache
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI search business also faces new U.K. conduct requirements that let publishers opt out of AI summaries and training use, which could constrain the company’s search monetization and data access over time. UK regulator enforces new competition requirements for Google search
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of quiet layoffs in Google Cloud added to the cautious tone, suggesting Alphabet is still trimming costs even as it ramps spending elsewhere. Google is quietly laying off staff in its cloud division

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $369.27 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.33 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $348.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $326.80. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.81 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $348.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.00.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.