Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Reduced by Spinecap SAS

Key Points

• Spinecap SAS reduced its Alphabet stake by 16% in the fourth quarter, selling 25,023 shares and leaving it with 130,922 shares valued at about $40.98 million. Alphabet remains its largest holding, making up 17.6% of the firm’s portfolio.
• Institutional interest in Alphabet remains strong overall, with hedge funds and other investors owning 40.03% of the company. Notable activity included Berkshire Hathaway’s new large stake and NewEdge Wealth’s increased position.
• Alphabet continues to show solid operational and market momentum, with Q1 earnings and revenue beating estimates, a modest dividend increase, and analysts maintaining a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $413.13.

Spinecap SAS lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 16.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 130,922 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 25,023 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 17.6% of Spinecap SAS's holdings, making the stock its biggest position. Spinecap SAS's holdings in Alphabet were worth $40,979,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares in the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,902,000. Private Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,736,000 after acquiring an additional 2,678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,338,397,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s core AI and cloud story got another boost after reports highlighted strong earnings momentum and a rapidly expanding Google Cloud backlog, reinforcing the view that business demand remains healthy. Alphabet Just Beat Earnings by 94% and Doubled Its Cloud Backlog to $460 Billion
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it nearly tripled its Alphabet stake, a notable vote of confidence from a major value investor that may support sentiment. Warren Buffett Just Tripled Down on the Stock Bill Ackman Is Selling
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand AI usage, adding another large enterprise customer to Alphabet’s cloud growth narrative. HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled new AI-related plans, including an “AI Control Roadmap” to address rogue AI agents, underscoring continued investment and leadership in AI infrastructure and safety. Google Devises Battle Plan to Combat Rogue AI Agents
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s AI talent war remains a focus after Noam Shazeer, a co-lead on Gemini, reportedly left for OpenAI, which may raise questions about retention but does not change the core business overnight. Google's Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to join OpenAI
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo issued a recall of about 3,900 robotaxis after software issues caused vehicles to enter highway construction zones, adding regulatory and execution risk to Alphabet’s self-driving unit. Waymo to recall over 3,800 robotaxis over risk of entering closed construction zones
• Negative Sentiment: A director sold a meaningful block of shares, which can modestly weigh on sentiment even though insider sales are not always a bearish signal. SEC filing for John L. Hennessy sale

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Phillip Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Freedom Capital lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. HSBC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, CICC Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Two equities 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $368.48 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $366.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $331.69. The company has a market cap of $4.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for 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, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

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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