Capital Investment Counsel LLC Sells 3,965 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Capital Investment Counsel LLC trimmed its Alphabet position by 6.4% in the fourth quarter, selling 3,965 shares and leaving it with 58,099 shares valued at about $18.2 million.
• Alphabet continues to draw strong attention from institutional investors and analysts, with several firms raising price targets and the stock maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus rating.
• The article highlights Alphabet’s AI momentum, including major Google I/O product launches, a $5 billion Google-Blackstone AI cloud joint venture, and reported scale of 900 million Gemini monthly users and 2.5 billion AI Overview users.

Capital Investment Counsel LLC reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 58,099 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,965 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.5% of Capital Investment Counsel LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Capital Investment Counsel LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,185,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $416,217,000. Sovran Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% in the third 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. Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 21.2% in the third quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,171,000 after buying an additional 8,746 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the third 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 increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% in the third 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.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google I/O showcase highlighted a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, coding, and video tools, reinforcing expectations that Google can monetize AI rather than just defend against competitors. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Google and Blackstone announced a $5 billion joint venture to build AI cloud infrastructure powered by Google’s TPU chips, which could expand demand for Alphabet’s custom silicon and strengthen its enterprise AI ecosystem. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts turned more constructive after I/O, with firms including BofA, KeyCorp, Citizens JMP, Needham, and others reiterating or raising targets, signaling confidence that Alphabet’s AI strategy is gaining traction. Alphabet analyst forecasts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet said Gemini now has 900 million monthly users and AI Overviews has 2.5 billion monthly users, showing that its AI products are already operating at significant scale. Google kicks off I/O conference with AI upgrades for coders, consumers
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet also introduced new AI-powered search and shopping features, including agentic tools and a universal cart, which could open additional monetization opportunities. Google's new Universal Cart wants to follow you across the entire internet
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider and shareholder sales were disclosed, including a director sale and a larger shareholder sale, but these appear to be routine filings rather than a clear signal of changing fundamentals. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Ofcom said YouTube and TikTok have not done enough to protect British children from harmful content, adding another layer of regulatory scrutiny for Alphabet’s YouTube business. TikTok, YouTube lag on UK child safety as rivals act, regulator says
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors worry that Google’s AI-heavy search redesign could pressure its core ad model by reducing reliance on the traditional “ten blue links” format. Google Search as you know it is over

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.00, for a total value of $37,842.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,908,391. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. CICC Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Wedbush raised their price target on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $412.65.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $388.91 on Thursday. 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $334.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $320.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost 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 (DPR) is presently 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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