Van Diest Capital LLC Purchases New Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Van Diest Capital LLC opened a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter, buying 7,738 shares worth about $2.42 million. The stake now represents 3.6% of its portfolio and is its second-largest holding.
• Institutional interest in Alphabet remains strong, with major firms like Vanguard, State Street, Geode Capital, and Norges Bank increasing or initiating positions. Overall, about 40.03% of Alphabet’s stock is held by institutional investors.
• Alphabet’s latest business updates and market activity were broadly positive, including a beat on quarterly earnings and revenue, a higher quarterly dividend, and several bullish analyst ratings. However, the article also noted some headwinds, including a Waymo robotaxi recall and recent insider selling.

Van Diest Capital LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 7,738 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,422,000. Alphabet makes up 3.6% of Van Diest Capital LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest position.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth 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 during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s core AI and cloud story got another boost after reports highlighted strong earnings momentum and a rapidly expanding Google Cloud backlog, reinforcing the view that business demand remains healthy. Alphabet Just Beat Earnings by 94% and Doubled Its Cloud Backlog to $460 Billion
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it nearly tripled its Alphabet stake, a notable vote of confidence from a major value investor that may support sentiment. Warren Buffett Just Tripled Down on the Stock Bill Ackman Is Selling
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand AI usage, adding another large enterprise customer to Alphabet’s cloud growth narrative. HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled new AI-related plans, including an “AI Control Roadmap” to address rogue AI agents, underscoring continued investment and leadership in AI infrastructure and safety. Google Devises Battle Plan to Combat Rogue AI Agents
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s AI talent war remains a focus after Noam Shazeer, a co-lead on Gemini, reportedly left for OpenAI, which may raise questions about retention but does not change the core business overnight. Google's Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to join OpenAI
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo issued a recall of about 3,900 robotaxis after software issues caused vehicles to enter highway construction zones, adding regulatory and execution risk to Alphabet’s self-driving unit. Waymo to recall over 3,800 robotaxis over risk of entering closed construction zones
• Negative Sentiment: A director sold a meaningful block of shares, which can modestly weigh on sentiment even though insider sales are not always a bearish signal. SEC filing for John L. Hennessy sale

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the company's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,604 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3%

GOOGL stock opened at $368.48 on Friday. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $366.01 and its 200-day simple moving average is $331.69. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.00 and a 12 month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $445.00 price target (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $435.00 price objective (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities restated a "neutral" rating and set a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.13.

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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