Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Nicola Wealth Management LTD.

Key Points

• Nicola Wealth Management LTD. cut its Alphabet stake by 43.3% in the fourth quarter, selling 21,000 shares and ending with 27,500 shares valued at about $8.6 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains constructive, with multiple analysts raising price targets and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and average target of $413.13.
• Alphabet continues to draw attention from both sides: it won a major cloud deal with SpaceX and raised its dividend slightly, but it also faces scrutiny over AI credibility, higher AI spending, and regulatory pressure in the UK.

Nicola Wealth Management LTD. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 43.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,500 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 21,000 shares during the quarter. Nicola Wealth Management LTD.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased 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 worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $69,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. CICC Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. KeyCorp reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $445.00 target price (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.13.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

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'

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $368.53 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.00 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $352.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $328.11. The firm has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors 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 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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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