Sherman Asset Management Inc. Has $6.69 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Sherman Asset Management boosted its Alphabet stake by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 2,400 more shares and bringing its total to 21,382 shares valued at about $6.69 million.
• Wall Street remains broadly bullish on Alphabet, with several firms raising price targets and the stock holding a Moderate Buy consensus rating and average target of $413.04.
• Alphabet is benefiting from strong AI and cloud optimism, but investors are also weighing negative pressure from its massive $84.75 billion equity raise and fresh UK regulatory requirements for Google Search.

Sherman Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 12.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,382 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 2,400 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 5.7% of Sherman Asset Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Sherman Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,338,397,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 15.7% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,333,076,000 after purchasing an additional 6,874,381 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Markets Cayman LP lifted its position in Alphabet by 23,402.1% in the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 6,118,547 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,487,419,000 after purchasing an additional 6,092,513 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Mizuho upped their price target on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Arete Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Two investment 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.04.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s reported $10 billion commitment to Alphabet’s capital raise is a strong vote of confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy, helping validate the long-term investment case. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street continues to frame Alphabet as a major AI beneficiary, with analysts reaffirming bullish price targets and noting rising demand for Google Cloud and AI infrastructure. Alphabet had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Lovable’s expanded multi-year Google Cloud deal highlights ongoing customer demand for Alphabet’s cloud services, but it is a modest business development rather than a major near-term catalyst. Lovable signs multi-year deal with Google Cloud to up usage 5x, source says
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around the AI boom and Alphabet’s expanding role in the sector supports the growth narrative, but much of it is sentiment-driven rather than a direct earnings update. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s massive $84.75 billion equity raise is stirring dilution concerns and signaling that AI infrastructure spending will remain extremely capital intensive, which has weighed on the stock. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators imposed new conduct requirements on Google Search, including giving publishers more control over AI use of their content, adding a fresh regulatory overhang for Alphabet’s search and AI businesses. UK regulator enforces new competition requirements for Google search

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

Alphabet stock opened at $358.99 on Thursday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $349.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $326.85. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current 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 stock has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. 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, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549 over the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.

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.