Stack Financial Management Inc Purchases Shares of 1,580 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Stack Financial Management disclosed a new position in Alphabet, buying 1,580 shares in the fourth quarter worth about $495,000.
• Wall Street remains mostly bullish on Alphabet, with 47 Buy ratings and a consensus Moderate Buy rating; the average price target is $412.65.
• Alphabet reported strong Q1 results, beating earnings and revenue estimates, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21.

Stack Financial Management Inc purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 1,580 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $495,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, China Renaissance increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $412.65.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Q1 results were highlighted as one of the strongest among the Mag 7, with Google Cloud showing accelerating sales growth and broader AI momentum helping investor sentiment. Alphabet and NVIDIA: The Biggest Mag 7 Winners This Earnings Season
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s I/O announcements continued to reinforce Alphabet’s AI story, including new AI search experiences, agent tools, and upcoming AI glasses that suggest the company is expanding beyond traditional search. We tried Google's AI glasses and they're almost there
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on the stock, with multiple firms reiterating positive views and new AI ad formats seen as potentially boosting conversions and monetization in Search and Commerce. Alphabet's new AI ad formats seen boosting conversions and spending
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled a $15 billion Missouri data center investment, underscoring continued capital spending to support AI infrastructure and cloud demand. Google Unveils $15 Billion Missouri Data Center Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed Google’s revamped AI-driven search experience and agent ecosystem, which are strategically important but still too early to measure their near-term financial impact. Google is pitching an AI agent ecosystem to consumers who may not buy it
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo temporarily suspended service in multiple cities after robotaxis drove into flooded roads, adding another safety and execution concern for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit. Waymo suspends freeway rides, pauses Atlanta operations amid safety fixes
• Negative Sentiment: Google’s appeal of the antitrust ruling remains the biggest overhang, since a loss or forced remedies could eventually weigh on the company’s core search and advertising economics. Google appeals US court ruling on search monopoly

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $382.97 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.00 and a 12-month 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $337.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $321.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.41%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061. Corporate 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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