Slagle Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 427.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,881 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,387 shares during the period. Slagle Financial LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,467,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.6% in the 4th quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 23,248 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,277,000 after purchasing an additional 2,599 shares in the last quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc increased its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Sather Financial Group Inc now owns 23,586 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,382,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Diversified Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,674,000. Childress Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC now owns 32,592 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,201,000 after buying an additional 6,834 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pursue Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 32.5% in the fourth quarter. Pursue Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,915 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,477,000 after acquiring an additional 1,940 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wall Street Zen lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Sunday, April 12th. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, New Street Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $390.65.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on Alphabet
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 value of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 191,884 shares of company stock worth $59,121,365 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.
Trending Headlines about Alphabet
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Blowout Q1 — EPS and revenue materially beat expectations, with Google Cloud reporting very strong growth that convinced investors the company’s AI investments are driving near‑term monetization. GOOGL Q1 Earnings Beat (Zacks)
- Positive Sentiment: Cloud / AI momentum — Google Cloud grew ~63% y/y, AI product revenues surged and management cited a multi‑hundred‑billion backlog, supporting upside to future revenue and margins. Cloud Growth & Backlog (Zacks)
- Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades — A wave of price‑target increases and buy/overweight reiterations (Goldman, JPMorgan, Canaccord, Citi, etc.) followed the quarter, adding institutional endorsement and likely supporting further buying. Price Target Raises (MarketScreener)
- Positive Sentiment: Shareholder return signal — Alphabet announced a modestly higher quarterly dividend (up from $0.21 to $0.22), marking a small but visible move toward returning cash to investors.
- Neutral Sentiment: Product/monetization rollouts — Gemini is being integrated into millions of cars (upgrade from Assistant), and Waymo continues geographic expansion and commercial rides — both expand long‑term monetization pathways but have longer ROI timelines. Gemini in Cars (TechCrunch) Waymo Growth (Business Insider)
- Neutral Sentiment: Unusual options activity — Heavy call buying today suggests bullish positioning or hedged directional bets; this amplifies intraday volatility but not fundamentals.
- Negative Sentiment: CapEx concerns — Multiple write‑ups flagged rapid, ongoing AI/data‑center spend; some investors worry heavy capex could pressure near‑term margins despite revenue gains. CapEx Concerns (Seeking Alpha)
- Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and governance risks — European scrutiny (Italy) and shareholder pushes for cloud/AI safeguards create political/regulatory overhang that could affect product deployments or compliance costs. Italy Asks EU Probe (Reuters)
Alphabet Stock Performance
GOOGL opened at $384.80 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $147.84 and a 12-month high of $385.84. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $313.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $307.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for 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 41.25%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 11.54 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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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