Plimoth Trust Co. LLC Sells 8,069 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Plimoth Trust Co. LLC trimmed its Alphabet stake by 12.8% in Q4, selling 8,069 shares and leaving it with 55,213 shares valued at about $17.28 million, which is 3.9% of the trust's portfolio and its fourth-largest holding.
• Alphabet delivered a strong Q1 beat—EPS $5.11 vs. $2.64 expected and revenue $109.9 billion, with Google Cloud up ~63% and backlog near $460B—spurring multiple broker upgrades and a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" with an average target of $397.48.
• Alphabet raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22; however, insiders have been net sellers recently (CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares and insiders sold 191,053 shares over 90 days), and elevated capex needs and rising European regulatory scrutiny remain potential near-term risks.

Plimoth Trust Co. LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 55,213 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 8,069 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 3.9% of Plimoth Trust Co. LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Plimoth Trust Co. LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,282,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,984,744,000 after buying an additional 1,034,292 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 39,250,829 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,541,877,000 after buying an additional 392,547 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. President Capital lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group set a $410.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 price objective (up from $395.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $397.48.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $385.69 on Monday. 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 twelve month low of $147.84 and a twelve month high of $386.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $313.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $308.70. The stock has a market cap of $4.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 12.94 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. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.41%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings & Google Cloud surge — Alphabet beat on EPS and revenue; Google Cloud grew ~63% to >$20B and backlog jumped near $460B, underpinning earnings momentum and revenue visibility. Alphabet’s Earnings Didn’t Just Beat—They Changed the Story
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street re-rating — Dozens of brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (Goldman, JPMorgan, Citi, Canaccord, etc.), lifting upside expectations and supporting momentum. JPMorgan price target note
• Positive Sentiment: Product & monetization catalysts — Gemini rollout into millions of vehicles and comments about ads in AI-driven Search/Gemini expand potential ad & cloud monetization paths. Google's Gemini hits cars
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial & government demand — The Pentagon signed agreements with leading AI vendors (including Google) to deploy AI tools on classified networks, validating enterprise/government demand for secure AI infrastructure. Pentagon AI agreements
• Positive Sentiment: Market narrative uplift — Coverage arguing Alphabet could challenge Nvidia for top market-cap status and that Google is “winning” the AI cycle is driving momentum flows and investor positioning. Barron's: The First $6 Trillion Company May Not Be Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: CapEx trajectory — Management signaled materially higher CapEx into 2027 to support AI/data centers; that supports future growth but raises near-term investment intensity and cash needs. Seeking Alpha: CapEx concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk — European scrutiny is rising: Italy asked the EU to investigate Google’s AI search features and Swiss regulators opened probes related to keyword bidding; these could lead to fines, remedies or product constraints. Italy asks EU to investigate Google AI search Switzerland probe

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total value of $348,232.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. This represents a 22.67% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 191,053 shares of company stock valued at $58,845,206 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.

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