White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• White Lighthouse Investment Management boosted its Alphabet stake by 30.8% in the fourth quarter, bringing its holdings to 10,122 shares valued at about $3.17 million.
• Wall Street sentiment remains bullish: several analysts raised price targets, and Alphabet now has an average Moderate Buy rating with a consensus target of $413.13.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, beating earnings and revenue expectations, while also raising its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share. The stock has also seen recent insider selling and mixed news around AI, regulation, and cloud-related opportunities.

White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 30.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,122 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,384 shares during the period. White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,168,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co boosted its position in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th 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 last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $69,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. President Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.13.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were 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 approximately $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through 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 stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

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'

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $368.53 on Friday. 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 one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $408.61. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $352.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $327.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 6.41%.

Alphabet Company 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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