Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Ninety One North America Inc.'s 2nd Largest Position

Key Points

• Ninety One North America increased its stake in Alphabet by 14.1% in Q4 to 426,416 shares (about $133.47M), making Alphabet its second-largest holding at roughly 5.4% of the portfolio.
• Alphabet beat Q1 expectations with $5.11 EPS and $109.9B revenue, Google Cloud grew ~63% to >$20B and backlog neared $460B, spurring multiple analyst upgrades and higher price targets (average target ~$397.48, Goldman raised to $450, RBC to $425).

Ninety One North America Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 14.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 426,416 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 52,560 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 5.4% of Ninety One North America Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Ninety One North America Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $133,468,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co raised its holdings in Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings & Google Cloud surge — Alphabet beat on EPS and revenue; Google Cloud grew ~63% to >$20B and backlog jumped near $460B, underpinning earnings momentum and revenue visibility. Alphabet’s Earnings Didn’t Just Beat—They Changed the Story
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street re-rating — Dozens of brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (Goldman, JPMorgan, Citi, Canaccord, etc.), lifting upside expectations and supporting momentum. JPMorgan price target note
• Positive Sentiment: Product & monetization catalysts — Gemini rollout into millions of vehicles and comments about ads in AI-driven Search/Gemini expand potential ad & cloud monetization paths. Google's Gemini hits cars
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial & government demand — The Pentagon signed agreements with leading AI vendors (including Google) to deploy AI tools on classified networks, validating enterprise/government demand for secure AI infrastructure. Pentagon AI agreements
• Positive Sentiment: Market narrative uplift — Coverage arguing Alphabet could challenge Nvidia for top market-cap status and that Google is “winning” the AI cycle is driving momentum flows and investor positioning. Barron's: The First $6 Trillion Company May Not Be Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: CapEx trajectory — Management signaled materially higher CapEx into 2027 to support AI/data centers; that supports future growth but raises near-term investment intensity and cash needs. Seeking Alpha: CapEx concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk — European scrutiny is rising: Italy asked the EU to investigate Google’s AI search features and Swiss regulators opened probes related to keyword bidding; these could lead to fines, remedies or product constraints. Italy asks EU to investigate Google AI search Switzerland probe

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $405.00 target price (up from $360.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $425.00 target price (up from $395.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Phillip Securities raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "moderate buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $397.48.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company's stock, 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 through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 191,053 shares of company stock valued at $58,845,206. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $385.69 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.84 and a 1-year high of $386.76. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 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. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $313.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $308.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 12.94 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).

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.