HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 66,656 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors LLC trimmed its Alphabet stake by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, selling 66,656 shares and leaving it with 2,126,830 shares valued at about $667.4 million.
• Alphabet’s latest quarterly results topped expectations, with EPS of $5.11 versus $2.68 expected and revenue of $109.9 billion, up 21.8% year over year.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, while analysts remain broadly bullish with a consensus rating of “Buy” and a price target of $372.65.

HighTower Advisors LLC lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,126,830 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 66,656 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.7% of HighTower Advisors LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. HighTower Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $667,399,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after buying an additional 7,904,434 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,749,864,000 after buying an additional 2,209,203 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,583,332 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,935,671,000 after buying an additional 223,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 28,625,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,971,769,000 after buying an additional 539,679 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $384.83 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $340.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $323.19. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $163.33 and a one year high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm's revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.81 EPS. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 6.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are encouraged by Alphabet’s push to monetize AI in Search, including Gemini-powered ad formats and conversational ads that could expand search advertising revenue. Google Wants Ads to Talk Back in AI Search
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is also seeing bullish attention around its AI stack and cloud business, with coverage highlighting TPUs, AI compute services, and product momentum that could support long-term growth. Alphabet Ties AI Hardware Cloud And Ads As EU Scrutiny Rises
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst and market commentary remains constructive, with multiple reports pointing to strong prior earnings, elevated price targets, and continued investor interest in GOOG. GOOGL's Innovative Ad Format to Boost Search Growth: What's Ahead?
• Neutral Sentiment: News that a Google engineer was charged with insider trading on Polymarket is negative for headlines, but it appears to be an individual legal issue rather than a companywide operational problem. Google Employee Charged With Insider Trading on Polymarket
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitor and user-behavior articles suggest some users are testing alternatives like DuckDuckGo after Google’s AI Search overhaul, highlighting possible search-share pressure, though the long-term impact is still unclear. Some users may be giving Google's AI search the bird, and DuckDuckGo is benefiting
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet faces mounting regulatory risk, including reports that the EU may issue a record fine over alleged search monopoly practices, which could weigh on sentiment. Market Chatter: Alphabet's Google Nears Record European Union Fine Over Alleged Search Monopoly
• Negative Sentiment: Several stories also say Google’s AI search redesign is pushing some users and marketers to rethink reliance on Google, which raises concern that AI changes could disrupt the traditional search ad model. OpenAI is building a new kind of ad machine. Early data suggests Google should worry.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Freedom Capital downgraded Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $372.65.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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