Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Acquires 23,838 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan boosted its Alphabet stake by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, buying 23,838 more shares and bringing its total holdings to 275,275 shares worth about $86.2 million.
• Recent news flow around Alphabet has been largely positive, including a raised $84.75 billion capital plan for AI and cloud infrastructure, reports that Apple may use Google Cloud for a revamped Siri, and another expanded Google Cloud customer deal.
• Alphabet continues to draw Wall Street support, with several firms raising price targets and analysts maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus; the company also lifted its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 275,275 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 23,838 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 3.3% of Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan's holdings in Alphabet were worth $86,161,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $277,696,000 after buying an additional 93,293 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,652,000 after buying an additional 3,740 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $405,131,000 after buying an additional 60,831 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet raised its capital plan to $84.75 billion to fund AI infrastructure and cloud capacity, signaling it expects strong demand for compute and is willing to invest heavily to protect and grow its long-term AI position. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly tapped Google Cloud to help power a revamped Siri, which could add a high-profile customer for Alphabet’s cloud business and reinforce its AI infrastructure monetization story. PYMNTS article
• Positive Sentiment: Lovable expanded its multi-year Google Cloud relationship, another sign that Google Cloud is winning AI-related usage and customer growth. TechCrunch article
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a buy rating and a $450 price target, reflecting continued analyst confidence in Alphabet’s cloud and AI growth potential. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several prominent investors, including Berkshire Hathaway and ARK, were reported as buying Alphabet shares, which supports sentiment but does not change fundamentals on its own. Barron's article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also received a softer-than-feared UK antitrust ruling that requires new conduct changes and lets publishers opt out of AI training, which may limit some data use but reduces the risk of a harsher regulatory outcome. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google is quietly laying off staff in Cloud, including parts of its cybersecurity team, may weigh on sentiment by raising questions about cost discipline and internal restructuring. Business Insider article

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $372.19 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $351.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $327.52. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.00 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 6.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Argus upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating and set a $460.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. President Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.04.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. Corporate 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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