Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates Ltd. trimmed its Alphabet position by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 2,834 shares and ending with 352,294 shares valued at about $110.3 million.
• Alphabet’s latest quarterly results beat expectations, with EPS of $5.11 versus $2.64 expected and revenue of $109.9 billion versus $106.98 billion projected.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, while analysts remain broadly bullish with an average rating of Moderate Buy and a price target of $413.33.

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 352,294 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,834 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.4% of Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $110,268,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake 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 holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during 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 purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $376.37 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.00 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $347.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $325.75. The company has a market cap of $4.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.71, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company 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 $0.22 dividend. 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 6.71%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. CICC Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. DA Davidson increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. President Capital increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 225,516 shares of company stock valued at $27,142,399 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s $10 billion commitment gives Alphabet a high-profile endorsement and suggests long-term confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s ownership stakes in major private AI companies like SpaceX and Anthropic could provide hidden upside if those firms eventually go public. Alphabet Stock Offers Exposure To SpaceX, Anthropic Before IPOs: What That Means For Investors
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of Alphabet’s expanding AI coding, hardware, and consumer-device strategy underscores the company’s push to compete more aggressively, but it does not appear to be the immediate stock-moving catalyst today. Microsoft and Google are late to AI coding, but 'absolutely critical' they compete for growth
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s proposed $80 billion capital raise is raising dilution concerns and signaling much heavier near-term AI capex, which is pressuring the shares. Exclusive: EU cloud rules to curb Amazon, Google access to strategic tenders, draft document shows
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that EU cloud rules could restrict Google’s access to strategic government tenders add another regulatory overhang for the company’s cloud business. Alphabet to raise $80 billion in equity capital for AI spending

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.

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