Sankala Group LLC Makes New $1.64 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Sankala Group LLC initiated a new position in Alphabet, buying 5,258 shares valued at about $1.64 million in the fourth quarter. The stake now makes up roughly 1.4% of its portfolio.
• Other institutional investors also added to Alphabet holdings, and about 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutions. This suggests continued broad investor interest in the company.
• Analysts remain mostly bullish on Alphabet, with an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.13. The company also recently reported stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings and raised its quarterly dividend.

Sankala Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 5,258 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,639,000. Alphabet accounts for about 1.4% of Sankala Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Symmetry Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,014,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,489,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Insight 2811 Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,274,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $435.00 target price (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Finally, HSBC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. 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 company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet News Summary

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604 in the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $368.48 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.00 and a 52 week high of $408.61. 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 company has a fifty day simple moving average of $367.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $332.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a $0.22 dividend. 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%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

Alphabet Company 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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