Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Holdings Cut by Provident Trust Co.

Key Points

• Provident Trust Co. reduced its Alphabet stake by 5.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 192,842 shares. The firm still holds 3.21 million shares, making Alphabet its second-largest position and about 16.8% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet continues to draw strong institutional support overall, with major investors like Vanguard and Berkshire Hathaway holding large positions. About 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutions.
• Despite some insider sales, Alphabet posted solid fundamentals and is benefiting from bullish analyst sentiment. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share and beat quarterly earnings and revenue estimates in its latest report.

Provident Trust Co. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,212,841 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 192,842 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 16.8% of Provident Trust Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Provident Trust Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,005,619,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,338,397,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after acquiring an additional 6,874,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Markets Cayman LP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23,402.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 6,118,547 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,487,419,000 after acquiring an additional 6,092,513 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google I/O announcements reinforced the company’s AI monetization story, with new ad formats, shopping tools, and Gemini-based products that could lift search and commerce revenue. Alphabet's new AI ad formats seen boosting conversions and spending
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts reiterated bullish or supportive views on Alphabet after I/O, including price-target increases that point to more upside if AI rollout gains traction. Analyst rating updates on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s broader AI push remains a tailwind for Alphabet, with articles highlighting strong cloud/AI demand and growing usage across Gemini and AI Overviews. 4 Cloud Computing Stocks Benefiting From AI-Driven Demand
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to win favorable Wall Street coverage, including multiple buy ratings and raised targets, which can help support the stock near recent highs. Alphabet's Googlebook Brings Gemini AI to PC Hardware
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s quarterly dividend increase and continued strong earnings remain supportive, but these were already known catalysts rather than a fresh surprise for traders. Alphabet stock performance and company details
• Neutral Sentiment: There was also a routine insider sale by a director, which may get attention but does not by itself change the company’s long-term outlook. SEC filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s new AI search experience has sparked debate about the future of web traffic and search behavior, but this is more of a strategic overhang than an immediate earnings issue. Google is going to ruin the internet
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo suspended freeway robotaxi rides and paused Atlanta operations while it fixes software problems in construction zones and flooded roads, raising short-term safety and execution concerns for Alphabet’s self-driving unit. Waymo suspends freeway rides, pauses Atlanta operations amid safety fixes
• Negative Sentiment: Additional reports said Waymo paused service in multiple cities after robotaxis struggled in heavy rain and construction zones, reinforcing concerns about rollout reliability. Waymo halts freeway rides after robotaxis struggle in construction zones
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and public-safety scrutiny is also building around Google’s platforms, including EU complaints over financial scams and UK child-safety criticism on YouTube. Google, Meta, TikTok face EU consumer complaints about handling of financial scams

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $435.00 price objective (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating and set a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $412.65.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This trade represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at $508,028,012.80. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $387.66 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $336.26 and its 200 day moving average price is $320.82. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.00 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. 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 (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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. 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. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 6.41%.

Alphabet Company 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.