Buck Wealth Strategies LLC Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Buck Wealth Strategies LLC cut its Alphabet stake by 25.9% in the fourth quarter, selling 19,834 shares and leaving it with 56,861 shares valued at about $17.8 million.
• Alphabet insiders also sold stock, including CEO Sundar Pichai and CAO Amie Thuener O'Toole, with insiders selling 226,481 shares over the last 90 days worth $27.4 million.
• Analysts remain upbeat on Alphabet, with several firms raising price targets and the consensus rating standing at Moderate Buy; the company also beat quarterly earnings expectations and increased its dividend to $0.22 per share.

Buck Wealth Strategies LLC lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 25.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 56,861 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 19,834 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.3% of Buck Wealth Strategies LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest position. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,674,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $508,028,012.80. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is testing Gemini-powered Search ads, including conversational and contextual ad formats that could improve monetization and help offset concerns that AI search may weaken its core advertising model.
• Positive Sentiment: Google and CrowdStrike helped take down a botnet targeting open-source software developers, reinforcing Alphabet’s cybersecurity capabilities and its role in defending the broader internet ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports around Google I/O and Alphabet’s broader AI lineup, including new Gemini features and AI search tools, suggest the company is still aggressively innovating to defend its leadership in search and advertising.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s $15 billion Missouri AI data hub investment highlights long-term infrastructure spending to support AI growth, but the near-term stock impact is likely limited.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet has drawn market focus from traders and analysts, with prediction-market activity suggesting shares may stay near current levels in the short term.
• Negative Sentiment: DuckDuckGo reported rising installs as some users respond negatively to Google’s AI Search overhaul, raising investor concerns that the redesign could push a portion of users toward competitors.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged that one Google AI Search result was “more opinionated than it should be,” underscoring the risk of AI accuracy issues and potential user trust problems.
• Negative Sentiment: Federal prosecutors charged a Google employee with insider trading tied to Polymarket bets, creating a reputational overhang even though the case appears to involve an individual employee rather than core business operations.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Moffett Nathanson raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital lifted their target price on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $412.65.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $388.83 on Thursday. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $342.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $323.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.66, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.00 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. 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 analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend 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 is currently 6.41%.

Alphabet 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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