Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Has $56.23 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. increased its Alphabet stake by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, ending with 179,643 shares valued at about $56.2 million. Alphabet is now its 12th-largest holding and makes up roughly 1.6% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet’s latest quarterly results topped expectations, with EPS of $5.11 versus estimates of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion versus $106.98 billion expected. Analysts remain mostly bullish, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $412.65.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, while insiders continued selling stock in recent months. Despite that, the stock remains near its 52-week high amid ongoing optimism around Alphabet’s AI initiatives.

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 179,643 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,850 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.6% of Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $56,228,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $416,217,000. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 23.6% in the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,401,000 after purchasing an additional 4,241 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 21.2% in the third quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,171,000 after purchasing an additional 8,746 shares during the period. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.4% in the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $17,652,000 after purchasing an additional 3,740 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $405,131,000 after purchasing an additional 60,831 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Arete Research lifted 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $412.65.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.0%

GOOGL opened at $388.83 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company's 50-day moving average is $342.73 and its 200 day moving average is $323.73. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.00 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.66, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is testing Gemini-powered Search ads, including conversational and contextual ad formats that could improve monetization and help offset concerns that AI search may weaken its core advertising model.
• Positive Sentiment: Google and CrowdStrike helped take down a botnet targeting open-source software developers, reinforcing Alphabet’s cybersecurity capabilities and its role in defending the broader internet ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports around Google I/O and Alphabet’s broader AI lineup, including new Gemini features and AI search tools, suggest the company is still aggressively innovating to defend its leadership in search and advertising.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s $15 billion Missouri AI data hub investment highlights long-term infrastructure spending to support AI growth, but the near-term stock impact is likely limited.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet has drawn market focus from traders and analysts, with prediction-market activity suggesting shares may stay near current levels in the short term.
• Negative Sentiment: DuckDuckGo reported rising installs as some users respond negatively to Google’s AI Search overhaul, raising investor concerns that the redesign could push a portion of users toward competitors.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged that one Google AI Search result was “more opinionated than it should be,” underscoring the risk of AI accuracy issues and potential user trust problems.
• Negative Sentiment: Federal prosecutors charged a Google employee with insider trading tied to Polymarket bets, creating a reputational overhang even though the case appears to involve an individual employee rather than core business operations.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.