Fisher Funds Management LTD Sells 217,574 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Fisher Funds Management LTD trimmed its Alphabet stake by 33.1%, selling 217,574 shares in Q4 and retaining 440,524 shares valued at about $138.07 million, making GOOGL roughly 3.6% of its portfolio and its third-largest holding.
• Alphabet reported a strong Q1 beat—$5.11 EPS vs. $2.64 expected and $109.9B revenue—powered by ~63% Google Cloud growth and a backlog near $460B, spurring multiple analyst price-target raises and a MarketBeat consensus of Moderate Buy with an average target of $397.48.
• Insiders sold about 191,986 shares (~$59.16M) last quarter, including trades by a director and the CAO, while rising European regulatory probes represent a notable downside risk.

Fisher Funds Management LTD trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 33.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 440,524 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 217,574 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.6% of Fisher Funds Management LTD's investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Fisher Funds Management LTD's holdings in Alphabet were worth $138,069,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush raised their target price on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Phillip Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. DZ Bank restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $397.48.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. The trade was a 22.67% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 191,986 shares of company stock worth $59,159,207 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings & Google Cloud surge — Alphabet beat on EPS and revenue; Google Cloud grew ~63% to >$20B and backlog jumped near $460B, underpinning earnings momentum and revenue visibility. Alphabet’s Earnings Didn’t Just Beat—They Changed the Story
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street re-rating — Dozens of brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (Goldman, JPMorgan, Citi, Canaccord, etc.), lifting upside expectations and supporting momentum. JPMorgan price target note
• Positive Sentiment: Product & monetization catalysts — Gemini rollout into millions of vehicles and comments about ads in AI-driven Search/Gemini expand potential ad & cloud monetization paths. Google's Gemini hits cars
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial & government demand — The Pentagon signed agreements with leading AI vendors (including Google) to deploy AI tools on classified networks, validating enterprise/government demand for secure AI infrastructure. Pentagon AI agreements
• Positive Sentiment: Market narrative uplift — Coverage arguing Alphabet could challenge Nvidia for top market-cap status and that Google is “winning” the AI cycle is driving momentum flows and investor positioning. Barron's: The First $6 Trillion Company May Not Be Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: CapEx trajectory — Management signaled materially higher CapEx into 2027 to support AI/data centers; that supports future growth but raises near-term investment intensity and cash needs. Seeking Alpha: CapEx concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk — European scrutiny is rising: Italy asked the EU to investigate Google’s AI search features and Swiss regulators opened probes related to keyword bidding; these could lead to fines, remedies or product constraints. Italy asks EU to investigate Google AI search Switzerland probe

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $385.69 on Friday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $313.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $308.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $147.84 and a one year high of $386.76. The company has a market cap of $4.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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 is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 6.41%.

Alphabet Company 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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