Local Pensions Partnership Investment Ltd Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Local Pensions Partnership cut its Alphabet stake by 6.8% in Q4 (sold 147,000 shares), leaving 2,005,645 shares that represent about 11.1% of its portfolio and were worth $627.7 million.
• Alphabet beat Q1 expectations, reporting EPS of $5.11 (vs. $2.64) and $109.9B revenue with Google Cloud growing ~63% to >$20B, spurring analyst price-target upgrades (Goldman to $450) and a MarketBeat consensus target of $397.48.
• Alphabet raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 (annualized $0.88, ~0.2% yield), and insiders sold 191,053 shares worth $58.8M last quarter, though corporate insiders still own 11.61% of the company.

Local Pensions Partnership Investment Ltd cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,005,645 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 147,000 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 11.1% of Local Pensions Partnership Investment Ltd's investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Local Pensions Partnership Investment Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $627,707,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 23.7% during the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $77,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $385.69 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.26. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $147.84 and a fifty-two week high of $386.76. The business's 50 day moving average price is $313.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $308.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm 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%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 12.94 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 6.41%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.00, for a total value of $37,842.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,908,391. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 191,053 shares of company stock worth $58,845,206. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday. Argus raised their price target on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wedbush raised their price target on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research reduced their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $397.48.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

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

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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