Novare Capital Management LLC Sells 2,661 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Novare Capital Management trimmed its Alphabet stake by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,661 shares and leaving it with 171,423 shares worth about $53.7 million. Alphabet remains the fund’s fourth-largest holding.
• Alphabet continues to draw strong institutional and analyst support, with multiple hedge funds increasing positions and Wall Street maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus. The average price target stands at $413.04, while several firms have raised targets as optimism around AI and Google Cloud grows.
• The article also highlights both upside and risk factors: Alphabet reported strong quarterly results and raised its dividend slightly, but its $84.75 billion equity raise for AI ambitions has fueled dilution concerns, and UK regulators added new requirements for Google Search.

Novare Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 171,423 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,661 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 4.0% of Novare Capital Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Novare Capital Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $53,655,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Cauble & Harre Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $371,000. AlphaCore Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.9% in the fourth quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 102,029 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $31,935,000 after acquiring an additional 10,021 shares during the last quarter. Richard Young Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $352,000. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 77.1% in the fourth quarter. Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. now owns 393,290 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $123,100,000 after acquiring an additional 171,190 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Investors Network Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $229,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s reported $10 billion commitment to Alphabet’s capital raise is a strong vote of confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy, helping validate the long-term investment case. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street continues to frame Alphabet as a major AI beneficiary, with analysts reaffirming bullish price targets and noting rising demand for Google Cloud and AI infrastructure. Alphabet had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Lovable’s expanded multi-year Google Cloud deal highlights ongoing customer demand for Alphabet’s cloud services, but it is a modest business development rather than a major near-term catalyst. Lovable signs multi-year deal with Google Cloud to up usage 5x, source says
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around the AI boom and Alphabet’s expanding role in the sector supports the growth narrative, but much of it is sentiment-driven rather than a direct earnings update. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s massive $84.75 billion equity raise is stirring dilution concerns and signaling that AI infrastructure spending will remain extremely capital intensive, which has weighed on the stock. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators imposed new conduct requirements on Google Search, including giving publishers more control over AI use of their content, adding a fresh regulatory overhang for Alphabet’s search and AI businesses. UK regulator enforces new competition requirements for Google search

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm'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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 in the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $358.99 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61. 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 market capitalization of $4.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $349.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $326.85.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citizens Jmp reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $515.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Argus increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Dbs Bank increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.04.

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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