HighTower Advisors LLC Has $1.22 Billion Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,884,911 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 91,176 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.3% of HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 9th largest position. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,215,977,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $69,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, 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 value of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

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

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, New Street Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $368.53 on Friday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $327.81. The firm has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) 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. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.41%.

About Alphabet

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.