Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. Sells 7,160 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Cooper Investors cut its Alphabet stake by 32.5%, selling 7,160 shares in Q4 and now holds 14,863 shares worth about $4.65 million, roughly 1.5% of its portfolio (its 24th largest position).
• Insider selling has been significant — CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares and insiders disposed of ~2,101,844 shares valued at ~$115.1 million in the last three months, leaving insiders with 11.64% ownership.
• Analysts remain constructive, with several firms raising price targets and MarketBeat showing an average target near $367.33, while Alphabet trades around $295.77 with a market cap of $3.58 trillion and a 52‑week range of $140.53–$349.00.

Cooper Investors PTY Ltd. decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 32.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 14,863 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,160 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.5% of Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Cooper Investors PTY Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,652,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $295.77 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The company's 50 day moving average price is $309.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $296.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. New Street Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $367.33.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive — Wells Fargo kept an overweight rating (while trimming targets), and other outlets highlight Buy/Outperform views that point to meaningful upside from cloud/AI monetization. Wells Fargo Raised the PT on Alphabet Inc (GOOGL), Maintains a Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Product/efficiency wins: Google’s Gemma 4 and the TurboQuant algorithm reduce model memory needs and improve on‑device/model efficiency — strengthens competitive moat and could lower operating costs for AI services. Google's Gemma 4 brings AI superpowers to your device Google's TurboQuant Breakthrough Just Rewrote the AI Playbook
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamental/earnings confidence: coverage from Zacks and others flags Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch the stock heading into earnings season. Earnings Growth & Price Strength Make Alphabet (GOOGL) a Stock to Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent movement: Broadcom named Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as its next CFO — notable departure to monitor but not an immediate earnings event. Broadcom taps Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as next CFO
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory probe in Turkey: the Turkish Competition Board opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — potential fines, business restrictions or remediation costs could hit ad revenue/operations in the region. Turkey launches investigation into Google over advertising, billing practices
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk rises as Section 230 liability narrows: recent court losses for platforms (including YouTube/Google units) increase the probability of costly litigation and moderation compliance burdens. Meta, Google under attack as court cases bypass 30-year-old legal shield
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term cash‑flow and capex concern: industry commentary warns that hyperscaler AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — elevates execution and financing risk until monetization of AI investments scales. Semianalysis CEO: Google's free cash flow will hit zero next year from AI capex
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/ESG risk from data‑center power strategy: reporting that hyperscalers (including Google) are building large natural‑gas plants to power AI centers raises reputational, regulatory and long‑term transition risks. AI companies are building huge natural gas plants to power data centers. What could go wrong?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: an SEC filing shows a senior exec sold ~9k shares in late March — modest in dollar terms but can be read negatively by short‑term traders. Insider Selling: Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL Insider Sells 8,993 Shares of Stock

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,818,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $856,605,814.08. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,631 shares in the company, valued at $1,405,091.71. The trade was a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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