Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel increased its Alphabet stake by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, bringing holdings to 549,018 shares worth about $172.1 million. Alphabet now makes up roughly 5.7% of the firm’s portfolio and is its second-largest holding.
• Alphabet continues to draw bullish analyst sentiment, with several firms recently raising price targets and the consensus rating remaining Moderate Buy. The average price target now stands at $413.13.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $5.11 versus expectations of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion. Alphabet also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.

Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 549,018 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,933 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 5.7% of Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Dixon Mitchell Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $172,081,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Kentucky Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s drone unit Wing expanded its Walmart partnership into seven more U.S. cities, pushing the service toward nearly 20 markets and signaling that drone delivery is moving from experiment to scalable business. Alphabet's Most Overlooked Division Just Had a Big Week
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo launched a new $29.99 monthly membership program with perks for frequent riders, a move that suggests the robotaxi business is building recurring revenue on top of rapid ride-growth. Waymo launches premier subscription tier for $29.99 a month, starting in select cities
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen raised its price target on Alphabet, adding to the bullish analyst backdrop and supporting the view that the stock still has room to run. Alphabet (GOOGL) Among Our Good Stocks to Buy Now
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and other commentary highlighted Alphabet as a long-term AI beneficiary, especially as rising model costs could strengthen demand for Google Cloud and infrastructure. Anthropic's Priciest AI Model Yet Is Here. Why Alphabet and Amazon Will Benefit.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet sued an alleged Chinese cybercrime group accused of using Google’s AI tools to run scam operations, which shows the company is actively defending its platform but is not likely to move the stock much on its own. Google sues alleged Chinese cybercrime operation that used AI to send scam texts
• Neutral Sentiment: Some investors noted that Altimeter Capital fully exited its Alphabet stake in Q1, but this appears more like portfolio repositioning than a company-specific warning. Billionaire Brad Gerstner Dumped All of His Alphabet Then Bought 2 Stocks Nobody Expected

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. China Renaissance upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Two investment 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 191,966 shares of company stock worth $16,963,968 over the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $359.68 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.00 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $360.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $330.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

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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