Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC's 5th Largest Position

Key Points

• Hunter Perkins Capital Management reduced its Alphabet stake by 10.3% in Q4 to 65,033 shares, making GOOGL its 5th-largest holding (4.7% of the portfolio) valued at about $20.36 million.
• Insider selling has been sizable recently — 2,101,844 shares were sold over the last 90 days (≈$115.15M), including Director John L. Hennessy's sale and a 1,845,308-share sale by 2017 Gp L.L.C.
• Alphabet beat quarterly estimates (EPS $2.82 vs. $2.57; revenue $113.8B), pays a $0.21 quarterly dividend (0.3% yield), and carries a MarketBeat consensus of Moderate Buy with a $367.33 average price target.

Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 65,033 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,461 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 4.7% of Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Hunter Perkins Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $20,355,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,631 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,091.71. The trade was a 18.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $295.77 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $349.00. The business's 50 day moving average is $309.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $296.27. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive — Wells Fargo kept an overweight rating (while trimming targets), and other outlets highlight Buy/Outperform views that point to meaningful upside from cloud/AI monetization. Wells Fargo Raised the PT on Alphabet Inc (GOOGL), Maintains a Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Product/efficiency wins: Google’s Gemma 4 and the TurboQuant algorithm reduce model memory needs and improve on‑device/model efficiency — strengthens competitive moat and could lower operating costs for AI services. Google's Gemma 4 brings AI superpowers to your device Google's TurboQuant Breakthrough Just Rewrote the AI Playbook
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamental/earnings confidence: coverage from Zacks and others flags Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch the stock heading into earnings season. Earnings Growth & Price Strength Make Alphabet (GOOGL) a Stock to Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent movement: Broadcom named Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as its next CFO — notable departure to monitor but not an immediate earnings event. Broadcom taps Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as next CFO
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory probe in Turkey: the Turkish Competition Board opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — potential fines, business restrictions or remediation costs could hit ad revenue/operations in the region. Turkey launches investigation into Google over advertising, billing practices
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk rises as Section 230 liability narrows: recent court losses for platforms (including YouTube/Google units) increase the probability of costly litigation and moderation compliance burdens. Meta, Google under attack as court cases bypass 30-year-old legal shield
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term cash‑flow and capex concern: industry commentary warns that hyperscaler AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — elevates execution and financing risk until monetization of AI investments scales. Semianalysis CEO: Google's free cash flow will hit zero next year from AI capex
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/ESG risk from data‑center power strategy: reporting that hyperscalers (including Google) are building large natural‑gas plants to power AI centers raises reputational, regulatory and long‑term transition risks. AI companies are building huge natural gas plants to power data centers. What could go wrong?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: an SEC filing shows a senior exec sold ~9k shares in late March — modest in dollar terms but can be read negatively by short‑term traders. Insider Selling: Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL Insider Sells 8,993 Shares of Stock

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $360.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus raised their price target on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Pivotal Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wedbush increased their price objective on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Roth Mkm raised their target price on Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned 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 a consensus price target of $367.33.

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.

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