Baer Investment Advisory LLC Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Baer Investment Advisory LLC disclosed a new position in Alphabet, buying 20,690 shares valued at about $5.95 million in the first quarter. The stock now represents roughly 0.7% of the firm’s portfolio.
• Alphabet also continued to attract interest from other institutional investors, while analysts remain broadly bullish. The current consensus rating is Moderate Buy, with a consensus price target of $413.92.
• Recent quarterly results were strong, with Alphabet reporting EPS of $5.11 versus expectations of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion topping estimates. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.

Baer Investment Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 20,690 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,950,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.7% of Baer Investment Advisory LLC's holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Symmetry Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the first quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $730,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,489,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Insight 2811 Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $978,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Alphabet from $435.00 to $416.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. 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 report on Wednesday, April 15th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating and issued a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL traded down $1.71 during trading on Friday, reaching $357.18. 18,122,822 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 32,870,564. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $176.48 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The business's 50 day moving average price is $372.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $336.44.

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. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 6.71%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its price target on Alphabet to $445 from $425 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing the view that the stock still has meaningful upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple upbeat articles highlighted Alphabet as a leading AI and cloud beneficiary, with commentary pointing to strong distribution through Search, Android, YouTube, Google Cloud, and chips as reasons it could monetize AI better than peers.
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage argued Alphabet looks undervalued after a big run over the past year, while other pieces said the company remains one of the most attractive megacap tech names on a risk/reward basis.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other market commentators continued to include GOOGL among cloud and internet stocks positioned to benefit from AI-driven data center spending and digital demand growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Business and tech commentary also pointed to product and platform strengths, including Google Search setting records during the World Cup and Waymo planning more driverless-car expansion, which support the long-term growth narrative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet said it will begin disclosing which ads are generated with AI, a transparency move that may help trust and compliance but is unlikely to materially change near-term earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Britain moved to regulate Google as a critical cloud supplier to protect financial stability; the change adds oversight, but it also underscores the importance of Google Cloud rather than signaling a fundamental business setback.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Google is appealing an Indian ads-related trademark ruling, a legal issue that could create some noise but does not yet appear to be a major stock-moving event.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short-interest data was effectively flat at zero shares reported, offering little actionable signal for traders.
• Negative Sentiment: One Reuters-linked report said Google and OpenAI provided AI services to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Chinese groups on the Pentagon blacklist, which could raise regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical commentary noted Alphabet is testing a key resistance zone after a recovery, suggesting the stock may need a fresh catalyst to extend its move higher.

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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