Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s 5th Largest Position

iA Global Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 730,897 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 16,928 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.9% of iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $228,771,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $372.19 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.51 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 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 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $351.15 and its 200-day moving average price is $327.52.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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. The firm 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, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet raised its capital plan to $84.75 billion to fund AI infrastructure and cloud capacity, signaling it expects strong demand for compute and is willing to invest heavily to protect and grow its long-term AI position. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly tapped Google Cloud to help power a revamped Siri, which could add a high-profile customer for Alphabet’s cloud business and reinforce its AI infrastructure monetization story. PYMNTS article
• Positive Sentiment: Lovable expanded its multi-year Google Cloud relationship, another sign that Google Cloud is winning AI-related usage and customer growth. TechCrunch article
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a buy rating and a $450 price target, reflecting continued analyst confidence in Alphabet’s cloud and AI growth potential. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several prominent investors, including Berkshire Hathaway and ARK, were reported as buying Alphabet shares, which supports sentiment but does not change fundamentals on its own. Barron’s article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also received a softer-than-feared UK antitrust ruling that requires new conduct changes and lets publishers opt out of AI training, which may limit some data use but reduces the risk of a harsher regulatory outcome. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google is quietly laying off staff in Cloud, including parts of its cybersecurity team, may weigh on sentiment by raising questions about cost discipline and internal restructuring. Business Insider article

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Phillip Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. 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. 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. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.04.

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.