Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. Has $2.60 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Halter Ferguson Financial increased its Alphabet stake by 63.5% in the fourth quarter, ending with 8,304 shares valued at about $2.6 million. Alphabet is now its 16th largest holding and makes up 0.6% of the portfolio.
• Alphabet has drawn continued institutional and analyst support, with several hedge funds adding shares and Wall Street maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus. Recent price targets were raised by firms including Goldman Sachs, Mizuho, Morgan Stanley, and others.
• The company reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share. Even so, the stock was down 3.9% in the session amid concerns tied to its expensive AI spending plans and potential regulatory pressure in Europe.

Halter Ferguson Financial Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 63.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,304 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,224 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.6% of Halter Ferguson Financial Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Halter Ferguson Financial Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,599,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Maxele Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $811,000. Williams & Novak LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Williams & Novak LLC now owns 1,712 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $536,000 after acquiring an additional 601 shares during the last quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.9% in the fourth quarter. Yelin Lapidot Holdings Management Ltd. now owns 75,744 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,708,000 after acquiring an additional 6,205 shares during the last quarter. Trevian Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Trevian Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,771 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,119,000 after acquiring an additional 277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tilson Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $747,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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 investment signals strong outside confidence in Alphabet’s AI and cloud strategy. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to argue that Alphabet remains a high-margin cash generator with attractive long-term earnings power. Google: AI Skeptics Proven Wrong as Business Booms
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of Alphabet’s expanding AI coding, hardware, and device strategy highlights broader growth opportunities, but it is not the main driver of today’s move. Microsoft and Google are late to AI coding, but 'absolutely critical' they compete for growth
• Negative Sentiment: The proposed $80 billion stock sale raises dilution concerns and underscores how expensive Alphabet’s AI race has become. 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 a regulatory overhang for the cloud business. Alphabet to raise $80 billion in equity capital for AI spending

Alphabet Stock Down 3.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $361.85 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.00 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company's fifty day moving average is $347.16 and its 200-day moving average is $325.75. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS 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 company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Pivotal Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Arete Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. 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, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.04.

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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