E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 37.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,937 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,546 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.9% of E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest holding. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,446,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Symmetry Partners LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,476,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Insight 2811 Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,274,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Evercore raised their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Argus raised their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Freedom Capital downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.33.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s $10 billion commitment gives Alphabet a high-profile endorsement and suggests long-term confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s ownership stakes in major private AI companies like SpaceX and Anthropic could provide hidden upside if those firms eventually go public. Alphabet Stock Offers Exposure To SpaceX, Anthropic Before IPOs: What That Means For Investors
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of Alphabet’s expanding AI coding, hardware, and consumer-device strategy underscores the company’s push to compete more aggressively, but it does not appear to be the immediate stock-moving catalyst today. Microsoft and Google are late to AI coding, but ‘absolutely critical’ they compete for growth
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s proposed $80 billion capital raise is raising dilution concerns and signaling much heavier near-term AI capex, which is pressuring the shares. Exclusive: EU cloud rules to curb Amazon, Google access to strategic tenders, draft document shows
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that EU cloud rules could restrict Google’s access to strategic government tenders add another regulatory overhang for the company’s cloud business. Alphabet to raise $80 billion in equity capital for AI spending

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $376.37 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $162.00 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $347.16 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $325.75. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. 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 sale, the director owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 225,516 shares of company stock worth $27,142,399 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.