Hixon Zuercher LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 28.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,817 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,866 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.1% of Hixon Zuercher LLC's holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Hixon Zuercher LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,829,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Members Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,728 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $541,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. White Wing Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. White Wing Wealth Management now owns 1,155 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Quantum Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,799 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,693,000 after buying an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Insider Activity
In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares of the company's stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. This represents a 22.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 191,884 shares of company stock worth $59,121,365. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Trending Headlines about Alphabet
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Blowout Q1 — EPS and revenue materially beat expectations, with Google Cloud reporting very strong growth that convinced investors the company’s AI investments are driving near‑term monetization. GOOGL Q1 Earnings Beat (Zacks)
- Positive Sentiment: Cloud / AI momentum — Google Cloud grew ~63% y/y, AI product revenues surged and management cited a multi‑hundred‑billion backlog, supporting upside to future revenue and margins. Cloud Growth & Backlog (Zacks)
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades — A wave of price‑target increases and buy/overweight reiterations (Goldman, JPMorgan, Canaccord, Citi, etc.) followed the quarter, adding institutional endorsement and likely supporting further buying. Price Target Raises (MarketScreener)
- Positive Sentiment: Shareholder return signal — Alphabet announced a modestly higher quarterly dividend (up from $0.21 to $0.22), marking a small but visible move toward returning cash to investors.
- Neutral Sentiment: Product/monetization rollouts — Gemini is being integrated into millions of cars (upgrade from Assistant), and Waymo continues geographic expansion and commercial rides — both expand long‑term monetization pathways but have longer ROI timelines. Gemini in Cars (TechCrunch) Waymo Growth (Business Insider)
- Neutral Sentiment: Unusual options activity — Heavy call buying today suggests bullish positioning or hedged directional bets; this amplifies intraday volatility but not fundamentals.
- Negative Sentiment: CapEx concerns — Multiple write‑ups flagged rapid, ongoing AI/data‑center spend; some investors worry heavy capex could pressure near‑term margins despite revenue gains. CapEx Concerns (Seeking Alpha)
- Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and governance risks — European scrutiny (Italy) and shareholder pushes for cloud/AI safeguards create political/regulatory overhang that could affect product deployments or compliance costs. Italy Asks EU Probe (Reuters)
Alphabet Stock Up 10.0%
Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $384.80 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $147.84 and a 12 month high of $385.84. The company's 50-day moving average price is $313.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $307.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $4.65 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 41.25%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 7.77%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. DZ Bank reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $390.65.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Alphabet
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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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