Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Lebenthal Global Advisors nearly doubled its Alphabet position in the fourth quarter, boosting its holdings by 99% to 16,444 shares valued at about $5.15 million.
• Alphabet continues to attract heavy institutional interest, with major investors like Berkshire Hathaway, Capital World Investors, and others increasing or initiating large stakes in the company.
• The company posted strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and it also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.

Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 99.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 16,444 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 8,182 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,147,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $4,338,397,000. Capital World Investors increased its position 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 worth $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its position 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 worth $12,333,076,000 after acquiring an additional 6,874,381 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 23,402.1% during the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 6,118,547 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,487,419,000 after acquiring an additional 6,092,513 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coatue Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 259.1% during the third quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 7,221,115 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,755,453,000 after acquiring an additional 5,210,434 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $387.35 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business has a 50 day moving average of $323.56 and a two-hundred day moving average of $314.66. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.16 and a 52 week high of $402.00. The company has a market cap of $4.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. 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%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is rolling out Gemini-powered Android features that let AI understand screen context and complete multi-step tasks, strengthening its AI platform and expanding practical use cases across its ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Google is bringing “agentic” AI, Gemini in Chrome, and new AI-native “Googlebooks” laptops to market, signaling a broader product cycle that could support future revenue growth and keep Alphabet competitive with Apple and other tech giants.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s partnership with Affirm and Klarna to embed pay-over-time options into Gemini and Google Search could boost commerce activity, improve conversion rates, and make Google Pay more valuable to consumers and merchants.
• Positive Sentiment: Google-backed Isomorphic Labs raised $2.1 billion to scale AI-driven drug discovery, underscoring investor enthusiasm for Alphabet’s broader AI ecosystem and the value of its venture investments.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is exploring first-ever yen bond financing to fund AI infrastructure suggest the company is willing to invest aggressively in compute capacity, which investors may view as necessary to defend and extend its AI lead.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Alphabet nearing Nvidia in market value and being at the center of the AI boom highlights strong momentum, but these are more market narratives than immediate fundamental catalysts.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s heavier AI spending and new debt issuance may pressure near-term margins and raise concerns that the company is trading balance-sheet strength for a more capital-intensive growth strategy.
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s robotaxi recall over a self-driving software issue is a reminder that Alphabet’s broader “Other Bets” businesses still carry operational and regulatory execution risks.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Evercore lifted their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital lifted their price target on Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. President Capital lifted their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $407.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. The trade was a 22.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $508,028,012.80. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 158,553 shares of company stock valued at $47,951,856. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.