Fifth Third Bancorp Has $1.20 Billion Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp trimmed its Alphabet stake by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, but the position was still huge at 3.83 million shares worth about $1.2 billion. Alphabet remained the bank’s fourth-largest holding and accounted for 3.8% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet continues to see strong institutional support and active insider selling. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the stock, while insiders sold 226,481 shares over the last three months, though the sales were described as routine.
• The company’s AI strategy remains a major focus for investors: Alphabet announced a $5 billion AI infrastructure joint venture with Blackstone, highlighted broad AI product growth at Google I/O, and received multiple bullish analyst price-target increases.

Fifth Third Bancorp reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,834,767 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 97,413 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.8% of Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,200,282,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. 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 worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $69,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and Blackstone announced a $5 billion AI infrastructure joint venture to build TPU-powered cloud capacity, which could deepen demand for Google’s custom chips and expand its AI ecosystem. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
• Positive Sentiment: Google I/O showcased a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, and video tools, reinforcing the idea that Alphabet is monetizing AI rather than just defending against rivals. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with Arete Research lifting its price target to $425 and maintaining a buy rating, signaling continued upside expectations. Arete Research adjusts price target on Alphabet to $425 from $405
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet said Gemini now has 900 million monthly users and AI Overviews has 2.5 billion monthly users, suggesting its AI products are already reaching scale. Google kicks off I/O conference with AI upgrades for coders, consumers
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed insider sales by a major shareholder, but the transactions appear routine and are not, by themselves, a strong fundamental signal. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are uneasy that Google’s AI-heavy search redesign could disrupt the company’s core ad model, especially as the “ten blue links” era fades. Google Search as you know it is over
• Negative Sentiment: There is also headline risk from broader scrutiny around platform responsibility and YouTube youth-safety issues, which may keep some investors cautious. Alphabet’s $5 Trillion Milestone: How AI Ambitions Are Fueling Google’s Record Run

Alphabet Stock Down 2.3%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $387.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $333.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $319.32. The company has a market cap of $4.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. 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 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Pivotal Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. HSBC increased their price target on Alphabet from $385.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on Alphabet from $385.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $411.23.

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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