Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's 3rd Largest Position

Key Points

• Applied Finance Capital Management reduced its Alphabet stake by 25.9% in the fourth quarter, but Alphabet still ranks as the firm’s 3rd largest holding at about 3.8% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 and revenue of $109.9 billion, both ahead of analyst expectations. The company also posted high profitability, with a 38.99% return on equity and a 37.92% net margin.
• The company increased its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, while analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $413.04.

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 25.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 171,116 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 59,784 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 3.8% of Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $53,559,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,401,000 after purchasing an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,652,000 after purchasing an additional 3,740 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $405,131,000 after purchasing an additional 60,831 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $358.99 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $349.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $326.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. China Renaissance lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. President Capital boosted their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently 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: Berkshire Hathaway’s reported $10 billion commitment to Alphabet’s capital raise is a strong vote of confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy, helping validate the long-term investment case. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street continues to frame Alphabet as a major AI beneficiary, with analysts reaffirming bullish price targets and noting rising demand for Google Cloud and AI infrastructure. Alphabet had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Lovable’s expanded multi-year Google Cloud deal highlights ongoing customer demand for Alphabet’s cloud services, but it is a modest business development rather than a major near-term catalyst. Lovable signs multi-year deal with Google Cloud to up usage 5x, source says
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around the AI boom and Alphabet’s expanding role in the sector supports the growth narrative, but much of it is sentiment-driven rather than a direct earnings update. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s massive $84.75 billion equity raise is stirring dilution concerns and signaling that AI infrastructure spending will remain extremely capital intensive, which has weighed on the stock. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators imposed new conduct requirements on Google Search, including giving publishers more control over AI use of their content, adding a fresh regulatory overhang for Alphabet’s search and AI businesses. UK regulator enforces new competition requirements for Google search

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

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.

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.