Directional Asset Management Takes $540,000 Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Directional Asset Management opened a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter, buying 1,725 shares valued at about $540,000.
• Alphabet continues to attract major institutional interest, with several hedge funds and asset managers recently increasing their stakes; institutions now own 40.03% of the stock.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish on Alphabet, with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $407.86, while the company also reported strong quarterly earnings and raised its dividend to $0.22 per share.

Directional Asset Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 1,725 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $540,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $416,217,000. Sovran Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,171,000 after purchasing an additional 8,746 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 60,831 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,740 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at $508,028,012.80. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 158,553 shares of company stock worth $47,951,856 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Susquehanna restated a "positive" rating and set a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America upped their target price on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore upped their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upped their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $407.86.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is rolling out Gemini-powered Android features that let AI understand screen context and complete multi-step tasks, strengthening its AI platform and expanding practical use cases across its ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Google is bringing “agentic” AI, Gemini in Chrome, and new AI-native “Googlebooks” laptops to market, signaling a broader product cycle that could support future revenue growth and keep Alphabet competitive with Apple and other tech giants.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s partnership with Affirm and Klarna to embed pay-over-time options into Gemini and Google Search could boost commerce activity, improve conversion rates, and make Google Pay more valuable to consumers and merchants.
• Positive Sentiment: Google-backed Isomorphic Labs raised $2.1 billion to scale AI-driven drug discovery, underscoring investor enthusiasm for Alphabet’s broader AI ecosystem and the value of its venture investments.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is exploring first-ever yen bond financing to fund AI infrastructure suggest the company is willing to invest aggressively in compute capacity, which investors may view as necessary to defend and extend its AI lead.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Alphabet nearing Nvidia in market value and being at the center of the AI boom highlights strong momentum, but these are more market narratives than immediate fundamental catalysts.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s heavier AI spending and new debt issuance may pressure near-term margins and raise concerns that the company is trading balance-sheet strength for a more capital-intensive growth strategy.
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s robotaxi recall over a self-driving software issue is a reminder that Alphabet’s broader “Other Bets” businesses still carry operational and regulatory execution risks.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $387.35 on Wednesday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $323.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $314.66. The firm has a market cap of $4.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $156.16 and a 52-week high of $402.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change 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 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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