Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Mawer Investment Management cut its Alphabet stake by 12.7% in the fourth quarter, selling 534,777 shares and ending with 3.67 million shares worth about $1.15 billion. Alphabet remained its second-largest holding, making up 6.4% of the portfolio.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive: several analysts reiterated or raised bullish ratings and price targets, and the stock carries a consensus Buy rating with a $376.78 target price.
• Alphabet posted strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue estimates, while also raising its quarterly dividend from $0.21 to $0.22 per share. However, investors are also watching concerns about rising AI infrastructure spending and related cost pressure.

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 12.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,669,059 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 534,777 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 6.4% of Mawer Investment Management Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,151,351,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Towne Trust Company N.A grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 29.0% during the third quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 258 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Capital Management Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1,438.5% during the fourth quarter. Creative Capital Management Investments LLC now owns 200 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 187 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Gemini usage growth and strong Google Cloud momentum suggest Alphabet’s AI strategy is gaining traction and could support future revenue growth.
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen raised its price target to $475 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued Wall Street confidence in Alphabet’s upside.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors continue to view Alphabet as a long-term compounder with durable Search cash flow plus cloud and AI expansion. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s new capital-raising and AI infrastructure spending plans could help fund growth, but they also create uncertainty about near-term cash flow and dilution.
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is paying SpaceX about $920 million per month for AI compute add to concerns that the company is leaning on outside infrastructure to meet AI demand, increasing costs in the near term.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent commentary suggests investors are worried that elevated AI capex could pressure margins if the payoff from AI products takes longer than expected.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Freedom Capital cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Raymond James Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reiterated an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $376.78.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $362.29 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.39 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.63, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $353.44 and a 200 day moving average price of $328.39. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $163.33 and a 52-week high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.Alphabet's revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.81 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share 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 issued 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 is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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