Board of Trustees of The Leland Stanford Junior University Buys New Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Stanford University’s board disclosed a new fourth-quarter stake in Alphabet, buying 394,353 shares worth about $123.4 million. Alphabet is now its second-largest holding and makes up nearly 25% of the portfolio.
• Institutional interest remains strong, with large investors like Norges Bank, Vanguard, JPMorgan, and Arrowstreet all increasing or adding to positions; hedge funds and institutions own 27.26% of Alphabet’s stock.
• Alphabet also reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 versus $2.68 expected and revenue of $109.9 billion, while analysts broadly remain bullish with an average Buy rating and a $376.78 target price.

Board of Trustees of The Leland Stanford Junior University bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 394,353 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $123,432,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 24.9% of Board of Trustees of The Leland Stanford Junior University's holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 850.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,551,938,000 after buying an additional 15,830,754 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after buying an additional 8,128,234 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after buying an additional 7,904,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 130.0% in the fourth quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 8,280,970 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,598,568,000 after buying an additional 4,680,460 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price target 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $376.78.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $371.10 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.33 and a 52-week high of $404.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $360.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $330.18. The company has a market capitalization of $4.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.81 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the business'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 approximately $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 159,466 shares of company stock worth $6,957,543 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Alphabet’s Google Cloud to expand its AI capabilities, a fresh validation of Google Cloud’s enterprise momentum and a potentially meaningful revenue tailwind. HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet rolled out Android 17 and expanded Gemini features across Pixel devices and Wear OS, highlighting continued product innovation and deeper integration of AI into its consumer ecosystem. Android 17 launches with new multitasking tools as Google expands Gemini features
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet confirmed a $1.5 billion Alabama data center expansion, including community investment and infrastructure spending, signaling continued AI and cloud capacity buildout to support future demand. Google's Samsung Talks Highlight TSMC Capacity Crunch
• Positive Sentiment: Google broadened Fitbit Air’s appeal by making it HSA and FSA eligible, which could improve adoption in digital health and wearables. Google Broadens Fitbit Air Appeal With HSA, FSA Eligibility
• Neutral Sentiment: Google also received positive media commentary around its AI strategy and enterprise adoption, but these were largely opinion pieces rather than new fundamental developments. Why GOOGL Stock May Have More Room to Run Even After a 100% Rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and quantum research efforts continued to draw attention, but the impact on near-term earnings is unclear. Google’s 20x Quantum Leap Threatens Ethereum’s Code as ETH Price Drops
• Negative Sentiment: Some coverage warned that the AI boom may be getting too speculative, with Howard Marks cautioning that investors may be overestimating what they own in AI stocks. Howard Marks: Investing in AI Stocks Is ‘Closer to Speculating' Than Analysis

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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