F&V Capital Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• F&V Capital Management increased its Alphabet stake by 71.3% in Q1, buying 16,313 additional shares and bringing its total to 39,180 shares valued at about $11.27 million.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 versus the $2.64 estimate and revenue of $109.9 billion, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus price target of $413.92.
• The stock was trading near $357.18, below its 52-week high of $408.61, and Alphabet also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, though the yield remains modest at 0.2%.

F&V Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 71.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 39,180 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,313 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.4% of F&V Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest position. F&V Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,267,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares during the last quarter. World Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $86,000,000 after acquiring an additional 23,107 shares during the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,902,000. Finally, Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $4,338,397,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $435.00 to $416.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Phillip Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Freedom Capital lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two research 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.92.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of GOOGL traded down $1.71 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $357.18. The company had a trading volume of 18,122,822 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,870,564. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $176.48 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $372.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $336.44. The stock has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24.

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 for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. The trade was a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its price target on Alphabet to $445 from $425 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing the view that the stock still has meaningful upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple upbeat articles highlighted Alphabet as a leading AI and cloud beneficiary, with commentary pointing to strong distribution through Search, Android, YouTube, Google Cloud, and chips as reasons it could monetize AI better than peers.
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage argued Alphabet looks undervalued after a big run over the past year, while other pieces said the company remains one of the most attractive megacap tech names on a risk/reward basis.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other market commentators continued to include GOOGL among cloud and internet stocks positioned to benefit from AI-driven data center spending and digital demand growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Business and tech commentary also pointed to product and platform strengths, including Google Search setting records during the World Cup and Waymo planning more driverless-car expansion, which support the long-term growth narrative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet said it will begin disclosing which ads are generated with AI, a transparency move that may help trust and compliance but is unlikely to materially change near-term earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Britain moved to regulate Google as a critical cloud supplier to protect financial stability; the change adds oversight, but it also underscores the importance of Google Cloud rather than signaling a fundamental business setback.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Google is appealing an Indian ads-related trademark ruling, a legal issue that could create some noise but does not yet appear to be a major stock-moving event.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short-interest data was effectively flat at zero shares reported, offering little actionable signal for traders.
• Negative Sentiment: One Reuters-linked report said Google and OpenAI provided AI services to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Chinese groups on the Pentagon blacklist, which could raise regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical commentary noted Alphabet is testing a key resistance zone after a recovery, suggesting the stock may need a fresh catalyst to extend its move higher.

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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