OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Acquires Shares of 25,010 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• OCONNOR, a UBS Asset Management unit, disclosed a new stake in Alphabet, buying 25,010 shares worth about $7.83 million in the fourth quarter. Alphabet now makes up about 0.8% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet reported better-than-expected quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 versus the $2.64 estimate and revenue of $109.9 billion versus $106.98 billion expected. Analysts still see the company earning about 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, while Wall Street remains broadly positive with a consensus Moderate Buy rating and average target price of $413.13.

OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 25,010 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,828,000. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of OCONNOR A Distinct Business Unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $368.48 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $367.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $332.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change 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%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is being viewed as a major AI winner thanks to ongoing investment in AI infrastructure and data centers, which could support future cloud and AI revenue growth. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Berkshire Hathaway nearly tripled its Alphabet position may be seen as a strong vote of confidence from a major long-term investor. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage emphasizing Alphabet’s strong earnings and expanding Google Cloud backlog supports the case for continued fundamental improvement. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s stock is drawing increased investor attention and analyst commentary, but these are mostly sentiment-driven mentions rather than new company-specific catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Noam Shazeer, a top Google DeepMind/Gemini AI leader, is leaving for OpenAI, underscoring the competitive AI talent war. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: John Jumper is also departing Google DeepMind for Anthropic, adding to concerns that Alphabet may be losing key AI researchers. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s recall of nearly 3,900 robotaxis after construction-zone driving errors raises safety and regulatory concerns for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle business. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: The UK ordering Google to improve search-ranking transparency highlights continued regulatory scrutiny over its core search business. Article Title

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC restated a "buy" rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company restated an "overweight" rating and set a $435.00 price objective (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. China Renaissance increased their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Two research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604 in the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).

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.