1,900 Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Acquired by Guardian Capital LLC

Guardian Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 1,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $595,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $277,696,000 after buying an additional 93,293 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 23.6% in the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during 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 purchasing an additional 3,740 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $405,131,000 after acquiring an additional 60,831 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $372.19 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. 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 Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $351.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $327.52.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other 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 transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 sale, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 in the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Mizuho lifted their target price on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.04.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet raised its capital plan to $84.75 billion to fund AI infrastructure and cloud capacity, signaling it expects strong demand for compute and is willing to invest heavily to protect and grow its long-term AI position. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly tapped Google Cloud to help power a revamped Siri, which could add a high-profile customer for Alphabet’s cloud business and reinforce its AI infrastructure monetization story. PYMNTS article
• Positive Sentiment: Lovable expanded its multi-year Google Cloud relationship, another sign that Google Cloud is winning AI-related usage and customer growth. TechCrunch article
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a buy rating and a $450 price target, reflecting continued analyst confidence in Alphabet’s cloud and AI growth potential. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several prominent investors, including Berkshire Hathaway and ARK, were reported as buying Alphabet shares, which supports sentiment but does not change fundamentals on its own. Barron’s article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also received a softer-than-feared UK antitrust ruling that requires new conduct changes and lets publishers opt out of AI training, which may limit some data use but reduces the risk of a harsher regulatory outcome. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google is quietly laying off staff in Cloud, including parts of its cybersecurity team, may weigh on sentiment by raising questions about cost discipline and internal restructuring. Business Insider article

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.