Ketron Financial Takes $20.47 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Ketron Financial opened a new position in Alphabet, buying 65,400 shares worth about $20.47 million. Alphabet now makes up roughly 6.8% of the firm’s portfolio, making it its second-largest holding.
• Several other institutional investors also increased or initiated Alphabet stakes, and 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutions. Notable additions include large purchases by CIBC Bancorp USA and Berkshire Hathaway.
• Alphabet continues to draw support from analysts and earnings results, with multiple firms raising price targets and the company recently beating quarterly EPS and revenue estimates. It also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

Ketron Financial acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 65,400 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $20,470,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 6.8% of Ketron Financial's investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares during the period. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $28,902,000. Private Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,736,000 after buying an additional 2,678 shares during the period. Finally, Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,338,397,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is being viewed as a major AI winner thanks to ongoing investment in AI infrastructure and data centers, which could support future cloud and AI revenue growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Berkshire Hathaway nearly tripled its Alphabet position may be seen as a strong vote of confidence from a major long-term investor. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage emphasizing Alphabet’s strong earnings and expanding Google Cloud backlog supports the case for continued fundamental improvement. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s stock is drawing increased investor attention and analyst commentary, but these are mostly sentiment-driven mentions rather than new company-specific catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Noam Shazeer, a top Google DeepMind/Gemini AI leader, is leaving for OpenAI, underscoring the competitive AI talent war. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: John Jumper is also departing Google DeepMind for Anthropic, adding to concerns that Alphabet may be losing key AI researchers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s recall of nearly 3,900 robotaxis after construction-zone driving errors raises safety and regulatory concerns for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle business. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The UK ordering Google to improve search-ranking transparency highlights continued regulatory scrutiny over its core search business. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $435.00 target price (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Mizuho upped their price target on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two equities 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 MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was 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 owned 10,093 shares in the company, 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 available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,132,701. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,604. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $368.48 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.00 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $367.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

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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