Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management trimmed its Alphabet stake by 2.6% in the fourth quarter, selling 26,443 shares and leaving it with 978,431 shares valued at about $306.2 million. Alphabet remains one of the firm’s largest holdings, ranking as its fifth-biggest position.
• Insider selling picked up as well, with Director John L. Hennessy and CAO Amie Thuener O'Toole both selling shares, while insiders overall sold 226,481 shares in the last quarter. Despite this, insiders still own 11.61% of Alphabet stock.
• Wall Street remains constructive on Alphabet, with most analysts rating the stock a Buy and an average target price of $412.65. The company also recently beat quarterly earnings estimates and raised its dividend to $0.22 per share.

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 978,431 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 26,443 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.4% of Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $306,249,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total value of $348,232.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,581 shares in the company, valued at $1,187,638.65. This trade represents a 22.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $405.00 target price (up from $360.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Two research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $412.65.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

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 Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $382.97 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.00 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.26. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $337.75 and a 200-day simple moving average of $321.52. 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 announced 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 analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.41%.

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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