Wealthquest Corp Makes New $2.65 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Wealthquest Corp opened a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter, buying 8,466 shares valued at about $2.65 million.
• Alphabet is drawing continued institutional and analyst support, with major funds like Vanguard and State Street increasing holdings and Wall Street maintaining a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $413.13.
• The company is seeing mixed headlines: it secured a major cloud deal with SpaceX and raised its dividend to $0.22 per share, but it also faces pressure from AI credibility concerns, higher capex plans, and UK regulatory scrutiny.

Wealthquest Corp bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,466 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,650,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during 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 buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% during 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 buying an additional 6,874,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,984,744,000 after buying an additional 1,034,292 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet secured a major cloud deal with SpaceX, adding a high-profile customer and boosting the investment case for its AI infrastructure business. SpaceX signs cloud deal with Google
• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research raised its price target on Alphabet to $455 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued Wall Street confidence. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports said Google’s AI search and chatbot products faced criticism after an audit found many chatbot responses on elections were flawed, which may keep pressure on Alphabet’s AI credibility. Over 90% of AI chatbot answers about midterm elections are flawed, stunning analysis shows
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s large equity raise and higher AI capex guidance are still weighing on sentiment because investors are questioning how quickly those investments will pay off. Alphabet is seeking fresh capital as stock's 4-week losing streak tests investor appetite
• Negative Sentiment: Google also faces regulatory pressure in the UK over publisher-content rules in AI search, adding another policy risk for the business. Google search facing UK 'conduct requirement'

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. DZ Bank reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $445.00 price objective (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $368.53 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. 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 company's fifty day simple moving average is $352.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $328.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

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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