Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Main Street Research LLC

Main Street Research LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 297,544 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,300 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 5.2% of Main Street Research LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Main Street Research LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $93,131,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,333,076,000 after acquiring an additional 6,874,381 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,984,744,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,292 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% 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 worth $17,282,549 in the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about 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’

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Arete Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $368.53 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $352.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $328.11. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 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 issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

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.