Whittier Trust Co. Has $81.06 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Whittier Trust slightly increased its stake in Alphabet to 257,874 shares (up 1.6%), valued at $81.06 million and representing 0.9% of the firm's holdings as Alphabet's 21st largest position.
• Alphabet beat Q1 expectations, reporting $5.11 EPS vs. $2.64 est. and $109.9B revenue, with Google Cloud growing ~63% and backlog near $460B, underpinning strong momentum.
• Wall Street sentiment has warmed—multiple brokers raised price targets and ratings (consensus "Moderate Buy", average target $397.48)—and Alphabet also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22.

Whittier Trust Co. raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 257,874 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 3,995 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 0.9% of Whittier Trust Co.'s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Whittier Trust Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $81,060,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its position in 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 buying an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 15.7% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,984,744,000 after buying an additional 1,034,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 39,250,829 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,541,877,000 after buying an additional 392,547 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 price target (up from $395.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $447.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $397.48.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 earnings & Google Cloud surge — Alphabet beat on EPS and revenue; Google Cloud grew ~63% to >$20B and backlog jumped near $460B, underpinning earnings momentum and revenue visibility. Alphabet’s Earnings Didn’t Just Beat—They Changed the Story
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street re-rating — Dozens of brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views (Goldman, JPMorgan, Citi, Canaccord, etc.), lifting upside expectations and supporting momentum. JPMorgan price target note
• Positive Sentiment: Product & monetization catalysts — Gemini rollout into millions of vehicles and comments about ads in AI-driven Search/Gemini expand potential ad & cloud monetization paths. Google's Gemini hits cars
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial & government demand — The Pentagon signed agreements with leading AI vendors (including Google) to deploy AI tools on classified networks, validating enterprise/government demand for secure AI infrastructure. Pentagon AI agreements
• Positive Sentiment: Market narrative uplift — Coverage arguing Alphabet could challenge Nvidia for top market-cap status and that Google is “winning” the AI cycle is driving momentum flows and investor positioning. Barron's: The First $6 Trillion Company May Not Be Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: CapEx trajectory — Management signaled materially higher CapEx into 2027 to support AI/data centers; that supports future growth but raises near-term investment intensity and cash needs. Seeking Alpha: CapEx concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk — European scrutiny is rising: Italy asked the EU to investigate Google’s AI search features and Swiss regulators opened probes related to keyword bidding; these could lead to fines, remedies or product constraints. Italy asks EU to investigate Google AI search Switzerland probe

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.00, for a total value of $37,842.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,621 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,908,391. The trade was a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,581 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,187,638.65. This represents a 22.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 191,986 shares of company stock valued at $59,159,207. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2%

GOOGL opened at $385.69 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $147.84 and a 1-year high of $386.76. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $4.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $313.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $307.81.

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 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 the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 11.62 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase 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 presently 6.71%.

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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