Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Lederer & Associates cut its Alphabet stake by 9.3% in Q4, selling 2,184 shares and retaining 21,267 shares worth $6.657M, roughly 4.5% of its portfolio and its fourth-largest holding.
• Insiders have been net sellers, including CEO Sundar Pichai (32,500 shares) and John Kent Walker (47,574 shares); insiders sold 191,986 shares (~$59.16M) over the past 90 days and now own 11.64% of the company.
• Alphabet beat Q1 estimates with $5.11 EPS versus $2.64 expected and $109.9B revenue while Google Cloud grew ~63% to >$20B; the company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 and carries a "Moderate Buy" analyst consensus with a ~$397.48 target.

Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 21,267 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,184 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 4.5% of Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Lederer & Associates Investment Counsel CA's holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,657,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $77,000 after buying an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total transaction of $10,893,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,179,372 shares in the company, valued at $730,481,906.96. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 191,986 shares of company stock worth $59,159,207 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Evercore increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, April 13th. UBS Group set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $397.48.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $385.69 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $313.72 and a 200-day moving average of $308.26. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.84 and a 12-month high of $386.76. The firm has a market cap of $4.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.26.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost 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 is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.41%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings & Google Cloud surge — Alphabet beat on EPS and revenue; Google Cloud grew ~63% to >$20B and backlog jumped near $460B, underpinning earnings momentum and revenue visibility. Alphabet’s Earnings Didn’t Just Beat—They Changed the Story
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street re-rating — Dozens of brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (Goldman, JPMorgan, Citi, Canaccord, etc.), lifting upside expectations and supporting momentum. JPMorgan price target note
• Positive Sentiment: Product & monetization catalysts — Gemini rollout into millions of vehicles and comments about ads in AI-driven Search/Gemini expand potential ad & cloud monetization paths. Google's Gemini hits cars
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial & government demand — The Pentagon signed agreements with leading AI vendors (including Google) to deploy AI tools on classified networks, validating enterprise/government demand for secure AI infrastructure. Pentagon AI agreements
• Positive Sentiment: Market narrative uplift — Coverage arguing Alphabet could challenge Nvidia for top market-cap status and that Google is “winning” the AI cycle is driving momentum flows and investor positioning. Barron's: The First $6 Trillion Company May Not Be Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: CapEx trajectory — Management signaled materially higher CapEx into 2027 to support AI/data centers; that supports future growth but raises near-term investment intensity and cash needs. Seeking Alpha: CapEx concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk — European scrutiny is rising: Italy asked the EU to investigate Google’s AI search features and Swiss regulators opened probes related to keyword bidding; these could lead to fines, remedies or product constraints. Italy asks EU to investigate Google AI search Switzerland probe

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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