Hendley & Co. Inc. Purchases 6,428 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Hendley & Co. Inc. increased its Alphabet stake by 209.4% in the fourth quarter, buying 6,428 additional shares and bringing its total holding to 9,498 shares worth about $2.97 million.
• Institutional interest in Alphabet remains strong, with large investors like Vanguard, State Street, Capital World Investors, and Capital Research Global Investors also adding to their positions.
• Alphabet continues to get support from its AI and cloud strategy: it raised its capital plan to $84.75 billion for AI infrastructure, while reports also pointed to growing cloud demand and analyst confidence, including a buy rating and $450 price target from Needham.

Hendley & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 209.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,498 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,428 shares during the period. Hendley & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,973,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% during the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,984,744,000 after buying an additional 1,034,292 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet raised its capital plan to $84.75 billion to fund AI infrastructure and cloud capacity, signaling it expects strong demand for compute and is willing to invest heavily to protect and grow its long-term AI position. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly tapped Google Cloud to help power a revamped Siri, which could add a high-profile customer for Alphabet’s cloud business and reinforce its AI infrastructure monetization story. PYMNTS article
• Positive Sentiment: Lovable expanded its multi-year Google Cloud relationship, another sign that Google Cloud is winning AI-related usage and customer growth. TechCrunch article
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a buy rating and a $450 price target, reflecting continued analyst confidence in Alphabet’s cloud and AI growth potential. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several prominent investors, including Berkshire Hathaway and ARK, were reported as buying Alphabet shares, which supports sentiment but does not change fundamentals on its own. Barron's article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also received a softer-than-feared UK antitrust ruling that requires new conduct changes and lets publishers opt out of AI training, which may limit some data use but reduces the risk of a harsher regulatory outcome. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google is quietly laying off staff in Cloud, including parts of its cybersecurity team, may weigh on sentiment by raising questions about cost discipline and internal restructuring. Business Insider article

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. DZ Bank restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, February 16th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $435.00 price target (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Freedom Capital cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two research 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.04.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.7%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $372.19 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year 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 firm has a market cap of $4.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $351.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $327.52.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

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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