Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC increased its Alphabet stake by 35.8% in the first quarter, buying 3,851 more shares and bringing its total to 14,611 shares worth about $4.2 million.
• Recent analyst commentary on Alphabet remains upbeat, with firms like KeyCorp, Bank of America, Daiwa, and others raising price targets and keeping buy/overweight ratings. The stock’s consensus rating is still Moderate Buy with an average target of $413.92.
• Alphabet continues to show strong fundamentals, posting better-than-expected Q1 earnings and revenue, while also increasing its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share. Despite some insider selling and a few regulatory concerns, the article highlights ongoing optimism tied to AI, cloud, and core Google businesses.

Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 35.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,611 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,851 shares during the period. Counterpoint Mutual Funds LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,202,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Altus Wealth Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the first quarter. Altus Wealth Group LLC now owns 13,757 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,956,000 after acquiring an additional 96 shares during the period. Sierra Ocean LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Sierra Ocean LLC now owns 3,909 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,124,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. IRON Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 24.6% in the 1st quarter. IRON Financial LLC now owns 4,009 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,153,000 after purchasing an additional 791 shares in the last quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. Osborne Partners Capital Management LLC now owns 94,183 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $27,083,000 after purchasing an additional 3,965 shares during the period. Finally, Leelyn Smith LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.3% in the 1st quarter. Leelyn Smith LLC now owns 40,218 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,565,000 after purchasing an additional 2,394 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its price target on Alphabet to $445 from $425 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing the view that the stock still has meaningful upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple upbeat articles highlighted Alphabet as a leading AI and cloud beneficiary, with commentary pointing to strong distribution through Search, Android, YouTube, Google Cloud, and chips as reasons it could monetize AI better than peers.
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage argued Alphabet looks undervalued after a big run over the past year, while other pieces said the company remains one of the most attractive megacap tech names on a risk/reward basis.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other market commentators continued to include GOOGL among cloud and internet stocks positioned to benefit from AI-driven data center spending and digital demand growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Business and tech commentary also pointed to product and platform strengths, including Google Search setting records during the World Cup and Waymo planning more driverless-car expansion, which support the long-term growth narrative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet said it will begin disclosing which ads are generated with AI, a transparency move that may help trust and compliance but is unlikely to materially change near-term earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Britain moved to regulate Google as a critical cloud supplier to protect financial stability; the change adds oversight, but it also underscores the importance of Google Cloud rather than signaling a fundamental business setback.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Google is appealing an Indian ads-related trademark ruling, a legal issue that could create some noise but does not yet appear to be a major stock-moving event.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short-interest data was effectively flat at zero shares reported, offering little actionable signal for traders.
• Negative Sentiment: One Reuters-linked report said Google and OpenAI provided AI services to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Chinese groups on the Pentagon blacklist, which could raise regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical commentary noted Alphabet is testing a key resistance zone after a recovery, suggesting the stock may need a fresh catalyst to extend its move higher.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $357.18 on Monday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $372.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $336.63. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.48 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $435.00 to $416.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.92.

About Alphabet

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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