Accredited Investors Inc. Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Accredited Investors Inc. increased its Alphabet stake by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, adding 1,776 shares and bringing its holding to 19,187 shares worth about $6.0 million.
• Alphabet is attracting broad institutional interest, with multiple hedge funds and asset managers increasing positions, and about 40.03% of shares now owned by institutional investors.
• The latest weekly headlines were largely positive: Alphabet raised its capital plan to $84.75 billion for AI/cloud infrastructure, while analysts remain upbeat with several buy ratings and a consensus price target of $413.04.

Accredited Investors Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 19,187 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,776 shares during the period. Accredited Investors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,006,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% during 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 in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 23.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its position in 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 buying an additional 3,740 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its position in Alphabet by 3.8% during 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 buying an additional 60,831 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. CICC Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $435.00 price target (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Bank of America upped their price target on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.04.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.7%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $372.19 on Friday. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $351.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $327.52. 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 firm has a market cap of $4.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.00 and a 52 week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 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 analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.

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