Noesis Capital Mangement Corp Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Noesis Capital Management Corp cut its Alphabet stake by 42.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 12,518 shares and ending with 16,931 shares valued at about $5.3 million.
• Despite that sale, institutional interest remains strong: several hedge funds increased or initiated Alphabet positions, and institutions still own about 40.03% of the company.
• Analysts remain upbeat on Alphabet, with multiple firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus Moderate Buy rating and average target price of $413.04.

Noesis Capital Mangement Corp lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 42.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,931 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,518 shares during the quarter. Noesis Capital Mangement Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,299,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% during the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,652,000 after buying an additional 3,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $405,131,000 after buying an additional 60,831 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. New Street Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.04.

Alphabet News Summary

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $372.19 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.51 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $351.15 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $327.52. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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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