Essex Bank Has $8.58 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Essex Bank increased its Alphabet stake by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, ending with 27,422 shares valued at about $8.58 million. Alphabet is now Essex Bank’s 12th-largest holding and makes up 1.9% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 versus estimates of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion versus forecasts of $106.98 billion. The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.
• Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with several firms reiterating or raising buy ratings and price targets. MarketBeat says Alphabet’s consensus rating is “Moderate Buy,” with an average target price of $412.65.

Essex Bank grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 27,422 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,575 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.9% of Essex Bank's holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Essex Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,984,744,000 after buying an additional 1,034,292 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $388.91 on Thursday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $334.65 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $320.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

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, 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.41%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. New Street Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $412.65.

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

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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