McLaughlin Asset Management Inc. Buys New Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• McLaughlin Asset Management opened a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter, buying 4,313 shares valued at about $1.35 million. Alphabet now represents roughly 1.2% of the fund’s portfolio and ranks as its 24th largest holding.
• Alphabet continues to draw strong institutional and analyst support, with several funds adding shares and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus rating. Analysts have set price targets as high as $455, with an average target of $413.13.
• The company posted a strong quarterly beat, reporting $5.11 EPS versus $2.64 expected and revenue of $109.9 billion, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share. Recent headlines remain mixed, though, with positive AI/cloud growth and enterprise deals offset by Waymo’s robotaxi recall and some insider selling.

McLaughlin Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,313 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,350,000. Alphabet makes up about 1.2% of McLaughlin Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s core AI and cloud story got another boost after reports highlighted strong earnings momentum and a rapidly expanding Google Cloud backlog, reinforcing the view that business demand remains healthy. Alphabet Just Beat Earnings by 94% and Doubled Its Cloud Backlog to $460 Billion
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it nearly tripled its Alphabet stake, a notable vote of confidence from a major value investor that may support sentiment. Warren Buffett Just Tripled Down on the Stock Bill Ackman Is Selling
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand AI usage, adding another large enterprise customer to Alphabet’s cloud growth narrative. HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled new AI-related plans, including an “AI Control Roadmap” to address rogue AI agents, underscoring continued investment and leadership in AI infrastructure and safety. Google Devises Battle Plan to Combat Rogue AI Agents
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s AI talent war remains a focus after Noam Shazeer, a co-lead on Gemini, reportedly left for OpenAI, which may raise questions about retention but does not change the core business overnight. Google's Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to join OpenAI
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo issued a recall of about 3,900 robotaxis after software issues caused vehicles to enter highway construction zones, adding regulatory and execution risk to Alphabet’s self-driving unit. Waymo to recall over 3,800 robotaxis over risk of entering closed construction zones
• Negative Sentiment: A director sold a meaningful block of shares, which can modestly weigh on sentiment even though insider sales are not always a bearish signal. SEC filing for John L. Hennessy sale

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have commented on the stock. Roth Mkm reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. New Street Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $368.48 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $366.01 and a 200-day moving average price of $331.69. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company 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%. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,604 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

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.