Stephens Inc. AR Purchases 12,844 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Stephens Inc. AR increased its Alphabet stake by 3.9% in the fourth quarter, buying 12,844 more shares and bringing its total holdings to 341,456 shares worth about $106.9 million.
• Alphabet reported a strong quarterly earnings beat, posting $5.11 EPS versus expectations of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion, while also projecting full-year EPS of 14.28.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, though the article also notes ongoing investor attention to insider selling, AI-related capital spending, and regulatory pressure.

Stephens Inc. AR lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 341,456 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,844 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.3% of Stephens Inc. AR's investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. Stephens Inc. AR's holdings in Alphabet were worth $106,938,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its position in Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its position in Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $358.99 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $349.51 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $326.85. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.00 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis 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 payout ratio is 6.41%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,132,701. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Summary

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Loop Capital raised their target price on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $445.00 price objective (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.04.

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.

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