Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Chelsea Counsel Co.

Key Points

• Chelsea Counsel Co. reduced its Alphabet stake by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 4,719 shares and leaving it with 38,749 shares worth about $12.13 million.
• Several major institutional investors continued adding to Alphabet, while institutions and hedge funds still own about 40.03% of the company’s stock.
• Analysts remain constructive on Alphabet after strong earnings, with the company beating quarterly EPS estimates and recently raising its dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.

Chelsea Counsel Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 38,749 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,719 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 5.2% of Chelsea Counsel Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Chelsea Counsel Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,129,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604 in the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Evercore lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.13.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is being viewed as a major AI winner thanks to ongoing investment in AI infrastructure and data centers, which could support future cloud and AI revenue growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Berkshire Hathaway nearly tripled its Alphabet position may be seen as a strong vote of confidence from a major long-term investor. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage emphasizing Alphabet’s strong earnings and expanding Google Cloud backlog supports the case for continued fundamental improvement. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s stock is drawing increased investor attention and analyst commentary, but these are mostly sentiment-driven mentions rather than new company-specific catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Noam Shazeer, a top Google DeepMind/Gemini AI leader, is leaving for OpenAI, underscoring the competitive AI talent war. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: John Jumper is also departing Google DeepMind for Anthropic, adding to concerns that Alphabet may be losing key AI researchers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s recall of nearly 3,900 robotaxis after construction-zone driving errors raises safety and regulatory concerns for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle business. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The UK ordering Google to improve search-ranking transparency highlights continued regulatory scrutiny over its core search business. Article Title

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $368.48 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.00 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $367.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.95. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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