May Hill Capital LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• May Hill Capital LLC more than doubled its Alphabet stake in the fourth quarter, increasing holdings by 111.7% to 18,850 shares worth about $5.9 million.
• Other institutional investors also added to Alphabet positions, and institutions now own 40.03% of the company, showing continued broad investor interest.
• Alphabet is getting a wave of positive catalysts: it raised its capital plan to $84.75 billion for AI and cloud capacity, while analysts remain constructive with a Moderate Buy consensus and an average target price of $413.04.

May Hill Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 111.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 18,850 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 9,944 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 0.8% of May Hill Capital LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest holding. May Hill Capital LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,900,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Hendley & Co. Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 209.4% during the 4th quarter. Hendley & Co. Inc. now owns 9,498 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,973,000 after buying an additional 6,428 shares in the last quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 153,864 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $48,159,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares in the last quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 19,187 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,006,000 after buying an additional 1,776 shares in the last quarter. Millennium Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,038,000. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan increased its position in Alphabet by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 275,275 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $86,161,000 after buying an additional 23,838 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $445.00 price objective (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $435.00 price objective (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. HSBC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Loop Capital raised their price objective on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Two 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.04.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet raised its capital plan to $84.75 billion to fund AI infrastructure and cloud capacity, signaling it expects strong demand for compute and is willing to invest heavily to protect and grow its long-term AI position. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly tapped Google Cloud to help power a revamped Siri, which could add a high-profile customer for Alphabet’s cloud business and reinforce its AI infrastructure monetization story. PYMNTS article
• Positive Sentiment: Lovable expanded its multi-year Google Cloud relationship, another sign that Google Cloud is winning AI-related usage and customer growth. TechCrunch article
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a buy rating and a $450 price target, reflecting continued analyst confidence in Alphabet’s cloud and AI growth potential. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several prominent investors, including Berkshire Hathaway and ARK, were reported as buying Alphabet shares, which supports sentiment but does not change fundamentals on its own. Barron's article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also received a softer-than-feared UK antitrust ruling that requires new conduct changes and lets publishers opt out of AI training, which may limit some data use but reduces the risk of a harsher regulatory outcome. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google is quietly laying off staff in Cloud, including parts of its cybersecurity team, may weigh on sentiment by raising questions about cost discipline and internal restructuring. Business Insider article

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders 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 currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $372.19 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $351.15 and its 200 day moving average is $327.52. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.00 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

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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