Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Sands Capital Management LLC's 4th Largest Position

Key Points

• Sands Capital Management increased its Alphabet stake by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 4,939,049 shares worth about $1.55 billion. Alphabet now represents roughly 4.7% of the fund’s portfolio and is its fourth-largest position.
• Alphabet has continued to attract institutional interest, with several other hedge funds also adding shares and 40.03% of the stock now held by hedge funds and other institutional investors. Notably, some large investors made fresh purchases, including Scge Management and Mariner LLC.
• The company remains well supported by analysts and recent performance, with Alphabet reporting better-than-expected quarterly earnings and declaring a small dividend increase to $0.22 per share. Wall Street’s average rating is still Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $413.13.

Sands Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,939,049 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 167,952 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.7% of Sands Capital Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Sands Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,545,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Scge Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $501,739,000. Sargent Investment Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 4.7% during the 4th quarter. Sargent Investment Group LLC now owns 58,121 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $18,192,000 after buying an additional 2,583 shares during the last quarter. Saber Capital Managment LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $3,179,000. MLP3 LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $455,000. Finally, Mariner LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.3% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 4,419,825 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,383,461,000 after buying an additional 221,309 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google’s legal action against an AI-enabled scam network highlights Alphabet’s role in fighting online fraud and may strengthen trust in its security ecosystem. AI Scam Surge Prompts Google to File Lawsuit
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary continue to point to Alphabet as a key AI winner, with Gemini, cloud spending, and enterprise demand seen as long-term growth drivers. 3 AI Stocks Poised for Long-Term Gains Despite Strong Year-to-Date Performance
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s increased stake in Alphabet adds a high-profile endorsement and suggests long-term confidence in the stock’s AI and platform value. Berkshire Hathaway's Greg Abel Just Made a Big Bet on Who Will Win the AI Races

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 191,966 shares of company stock worth $16,963,968 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Dbs Bank upped their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $369.35 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.48 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a fifty day moving average of $361.93 and a 200 day moving average of $330.66. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.00 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's 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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