Ritholtz Wealth Management Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its Alphabet stake by 8.6% in the first quarter, buying 11,983 additional shares and bringing its total to 151,769 shares worth about $43.5 million.
• Alphabet’s recent earnings were strong, with EPS of $5.11 and revenue of $109.9 billion, both beating analyst expectations. Revenue rose 21.8% year over year.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on GOOG, with several firms raising price targets and a consensus Buy rating, while the stock also faces concerns tied to AI talent departures and competitive pressure.

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 8.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 151,769 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 11,983 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.8% of Ritholtz Wealth Management's investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $43,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 38,409.2% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after purchasing an additional 179,369,280 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $35,174,429,000 after purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its position in Alphabet by 850.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,551,938,000 after purchasing an additional 15,830,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s advertising business is still growing, with one analyst note pointing to rising ad revenues and AI-driven ad tools as a source of further upside. Alphabet Benefits From Rising Advertising Revenues: More Upside Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Wedbush said the recent sell-off in big tech and AI names looks more like a buying opportunity than a broken AI thesis, and included Alphabet among the core beneficiaries of the AI trend. Wedbush brushes off tech sell-off as buying chance in multi-year AI bull run
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to get bullish long-term commentary from investors who see it as a strong growth and AI compounder, helped by Google Cloud momentum and AI monetization potential. Alphabet: Still A Top-Tier AI Compounder
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is set to join the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which is a notable index inclusion but not an immediate fundamental catalyst. Alphabet Set to Join Dow Jones Industrial Average as Verizon Exits Index (GOOG)
• Neutral Sentiment: A new bill would study data-center energy and water measurement standards, which could eventually affect Alphabet’s cloud and AI infrastructure, but it does not create immediate regulation. New Bill: Representative Suhas Subramanyam introduces H.R. 9372: Data Infrastructure Energy Measurement and Standards Act
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern is centered on Google’s AI talent exodus, with reports of more researchers leaving for rivals like Anthropic, raising worries about execution in Gemini and broader AI competitiveness. Alphabet Shares Fall After Report on Further AI Talent Departures
• Negative Sentiment: A separate report said Google is taking a tougher stance with publishers to secure broader content access for AI training, while publishers warn that traffic declines are already hurting them, adding to regulatory and relationship risk. Google looks to bleed publishers with new AI partnerships that would cull their content
• Negative Sentiment: Several articles this week continued to highlight weakness in the “all-in on AI” trade and pressure on Alphabet shares tied to AI talent losses and competitive fears. Ranking the FAANG Stocks From Most to Least Attractive, Based on Future Cash Flow

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Freedom Capital cut shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a "strong-buy" rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer lifted their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $376.78.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of GOOG opened at $334.71 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $366.33 and a 200 day moving average of $331.94. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $172.71 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. The firm has a market cap of $4.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company's revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 151,523 shares of company stock valued at $4,863,526 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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