Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by RFG Advisory LLC

Key Points

• RFG Advisory LLC increased its Alphabet holdings by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, ending with 71,998 shares valued at about $22.5 million.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted positions in GOOGL, and the stock remains widely held by funds and hedge funds, which own 40.03% of the shares.
• Alphabet continues to draw mixed signals from Wall Street: analysts have a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $412.65, while the company also posted a strong quarterly earnings beat and raised its dividend.

RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 71,998 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,963 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,535,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at $508,028,012.80. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total value of $348,232.50. Following the sale, the director owned 3,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,187,638.65. The trade was a 22.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald raised their target price on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, April 20th. HSBC raised their target price on Alphabet from $385.00 to $435.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Freedom Capital cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $412.65.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $382.97 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $337.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $321.52.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Q1 results were highlighted as one of the strongest among the Mag 7, with Google Cloud showing accelerating sales growth and broader AI momentum helping investor sentiment. Alphabet and NVIDIA: The Biggest Mag 7 Winners This Earnings Season
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s I/O announcements continued to reinforce Alphabet’s AI story, including new AI search experiences, agent tools, and upcoming AI glasses that suggest the company is expanding beyond traditional search. We tried Google's AI glasses and they're almost there
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on the stock, with multiple firms reiterating positive views and new AI ad formats seen as potentially boosting conversions and monetization in Search and Commerce. Alphabet's new AI ad formats seen boosting conversions and spending
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled a $15 billion Missouri data center investment, underscoring continued capital spending to support AI infrastructure and cloud demand. Google Unveils $15 Billion Missouri Data Center Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed Google’s revamped AI-driven search experience and agent ecosystem, which are strategically important but still too early to measure their near-term financial impact. Google is pitching an AI agent ecosystem to consumers who may not buy it
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo temporarily suspended service in multiple cities after robotaxis drove into flooded roads, adding another safety and execution concern for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit. Waymo suspends freeway rides, pauses Atlanta operations amid safety fixes
• Negative Sentiment: Google’s appeal of the antitrust ruling remains the biggest overhang, since a loss or forced remedies could eventually weigh on the company’s core search and advertising economics. Google appeals US court ruling on search monopoly

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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