Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. Purchases Shares of 4,710 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Godfrey Financial Associates initiated a new position in Alphabet, buying 4,710 shares valued at about $1.47 million. The stake now represents 1.3% of the firm’s portfolio and its 14th-largest holding.
• Several other institutional investors also increased their Alphabet holdings, and overall institutional ownership stands at 40.03%. This suggests continued interest from hedge funds and other large investors.
• Alphabet continues to draw positive attention from Wall Street, with multiple analysts raising price targets and the company recently reporting earnings and revenue above expectations. Alphabet also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

Godfrey Financial Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,710 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,474,000. Alphabet comprises 1.3% of Godfrey Financial Associates Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest position.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Gemini app reportedly doubled its monthly users to 900 million, reinforcing the company’s momentum in consumer AI and supporting the case that its AI investments are translating into real usage.
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street commentary remains constructive, with one report citing TD Cowen’s view that Alphabet could rise further by 2027, reflecting ongoing confidence in its earnings power and AI/cloud growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet was highlighted as a long-term value-and-growth story, with its search cash engine funding a growing cloud and AI franchise at what some analysts view as an attractive valuation.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s recent convertible preferred offering and related financing coverage suggest it still has strong access to capital as it expands AI infrastructure, which can help fund growth initiatives.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s large AI spending plans remain a key debate, with some analysts warning that rising capex could weigh on near-term profitability even if it supports future growth.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest data showed no meaningful short position change, so it does not appear to be a major driver of the stock move.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports linking Alphabet to major AI compute deals and supplier arrangements, including Google Cloud usage by other tech firms, reinforce its strategic importance in AI but are not directly tied to near-term earnings.
• Negative Sentiment: Several articles focus on pressure from Alphabet’s aggressive AI infrastructure spending, including concerns that capex could compress margins and make investors more cautious about the stock’s high expectations.
• Negative Sentiment: One report specifically warned that Alphabet’s net profit margin deserves closer scrutiny after the stock’s strong run, suggesting investors may be increasingly sensitive to any slowdown in profitability.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. CICC Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating and set a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $435.00 target price (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. DZ Bank reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3%

Alphabet stock opened at $364.26 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $356.15 and a 200 day simple moving average of $329.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. 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 related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

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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