Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is William Blair Investment Management LLC's 6th Largest Position

Key Points

• William Blair Investment Management boosted its Alphabet stake by 26.9% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 3.15 million shares worth about $987.5 million. Alphabet is now its 6th largest portfolio position.
• Analysts remain broadly positive on GOOGL, with several firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus rating. The average price target currently stands at $413.13.
• Alphabet reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 versus the $2.64 estimate and revenue of $109.9 billion. The company also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

William Blair Investment Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 26.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,154,973 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 668,971 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.8% of William Blair Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. William Blair Investment Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $987,506,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. CICC Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. DZ Bank reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $368.53 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.00 and a 12 month high of $408.61. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $352.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $327.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business 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, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet secured a major cloud deal with SpaceX, adding a high-profile customer and boosting the investment case for its AI infrastructure business. SpaceX signs cloud deal with Google
• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research raised its price target on Alphabet to $455 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued Wall Street confidence. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports said Google’s AI search and chatbot products faced criticism after an audit found many chatbot responses on elections were flawed, which may keep pressure on Alphabet’s AI credibility. Over 90% of AI chatbot answers about midterm elections are flawed, stunning analysis shows
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s large equity raise and higher AI capex guidance are still weighing on sentiment because investors are questioning how quickly those investments will pay off. Alphabet is seeking fresh capital as stock's 4-week losing streak tests investor appetite
• Negative Sentiment: Google also faces regulatory pressure in the UK over publisher-content rules in AI search, adding another policy risk for the business. Google search facing UK 'conduct requirement'

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.

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