Lawood & Co. Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Lawood & Co. opened a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter, buying 11,991 shares valued at about $3.75 million. Alphabet is now Lawood’s fourth-largest holding and makes up roughly 3.6% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet is drawing mixed attention from investors as it plans an $84.75 billion equity raise to support AI ambitions, with Berkshire Hathaway reportedly committing $10 billion. The funding move has boosted confidence in its AI and cloud strategy, but it also raises dilution concerns.
• The company recently reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 versus expectations of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion beating estimates. Alphabet also increased its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share, while analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with an average target price of $413.04.

Lawood & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 11,991 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,753,000. Alphabet comprises about 3.6% of Lawood & Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 4th largest position.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s reported $10 billion commitment to Alphabet’s capital raise is a strong vote of confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy, helping validate the long-term investment case. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street continues to frame Alphabet as a major AI beneficiary, with analysts reaffirming bullish price targets and noting rising demand for Google Cloud and AI infrastructure. Alphabet had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Lovable’s expanded multi-year Google Cloud deal highlights ongoing customer demand for Alphabet’s cloud services, but it is a modest business development rather than a major near-term catalyst. Lovable signs multi-year deal with Google Cloud to up usage 5x, source says
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around the AI boom and Alphabet’s expanding role in the sector supports the growth narrative, but much of it is sentiment-driven rather than a direct earnings update. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s massive $84.75 billion equity raise is stirring dilution concerns and signaling that AI infrastructure spending will remain extremely capital intensive, which has weighed on the stock. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators imposed new conduct requirements on Google Search, including giving publishers more control over AI use of their content, adding a fresh regulatory overhang for Alphabet’s search and AI businesses. UK regulator enforces new competition requirements for Google search

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $358.99 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61. 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 business's 50 day simple moving average is $349.51 and its 200 day simple moving average is $326.85.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,132,701. The trade was a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. CICC Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $435.00 target price (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.04.

About Alphabet

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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