Fourier Capital Management Ltd Buys New Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Fourier Capital Management initiated a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter, buying 23,740 shares valued at about $7.43 million. Alphabet now represents roughly 7.9% of the fund’s holdings and is its fifth-largest position.
• Alphabet continues to attract major institutional interest, with firms like Berkshire Hathaway, Vanguard, and Capital World Investors also adding or holding large stakes. Hedge funds and other institutional investors now own about 40.03% of the company.
• The stock is being watched for both upside and risk: analysts remain mostly bullish with a Moderate Buy consensus and average target of $413.33, but shares are under pressure from concerns about Alphabet’s planned $80 billion AI capital raise and possible EU cloud regulation.

Fourier Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 23,740 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,431,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 7.9% of Fourier Capital Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $4,338,397,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,333,076,000 after purchasing an additional 6,874,381 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Markets Cayman LP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23,402.1% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 6,118,547 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,487,419,000 after purchasing an additional 6,092,513 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s $10 billion commitment gives Alphabet a high-profile endorsement and suggests long-term confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s ownership stakes in major private AI companies like SpaceX and Anthropic could provide hidden upside if those firms eventually go public. Alphabet Stock Offers Exposure To SpaceX, Anthropic Before IPOs: What That Means For Investors
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of Alphabet’s expanding AI coding, hardware, and consumer-device strategy underscores the company’s push to compete more aggressively, but it does not appear to be the immediate stock-moving catalyst today. Microsoft and Google are late to AI coding, but 'absolutely critical' they compete for growth
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s proposed $80 billion capital raise is raising dilution concerns and signaling much heavier near-term AI capex, which is pressuring the shares. Exclusive: EU cloud rules to curb Amazon, Google access to strategic tenders, draft document shows
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that EU cloud rules could restrict Google’s access to strategic government tenders add another regulatory overhang for the company’s cloud business. Alphabet to raise $80 billion in equity capital for AI spending

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $376.37 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.00 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.56 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 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. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $347.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $325.75.

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. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore increased their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.33.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. 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 the firm's 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 $2,923,235.59. This 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 ninety days, insiders sold 225,516 shares of company stock valued at $27,142,399. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.