Giverny Capital Inc. Acquires 2,255 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Giverny Capital Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 361,398 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,255 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.8% of Giverny Capital Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. Giverny Capital Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $113,118,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Alphabet by 301.0% during the 4th quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 4,374,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,369,240,000 after acquiring an additional 3,283,525 shares during the last quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Icon Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 56,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,561,000 after acquiring an additional 2,244 shares during the last quarter. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 4th quarter. Knollwood Investment Advisory LLC now owns 55,393 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,338,000 after acquiring an additional 733 shares during the last quarter. LRT Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.3% in the 4th quarter. LRT Capital Management LLC now owns 10,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,218,000 after buying an additional 875 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clarity Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 29.2% in the 4th quarter. Clarity Asset Management Inc. now owns 442 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $138,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two research 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s drone unit Wing expanded its Walmart partnership into seven more U.S. cities, pushing the service toward nearly 20 markets and signaling that drone delivery is moving from experiment to scalable business. Alphabet’s Most Overlooked Division Just Had a Big Week
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo launched a new $29.99 monthly membership program with perks for frequent riders, a move that suggests the robotaxi business is building recurring revenue on top of rapid ride-growth. Waymo launches premier subscription tier for $29.99 a month, starting in select cities
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen raised its price target on Alphabet, adding to the bullish analyst backdrop and supporting the view that the stock still has room to run. Alphabet (GOOGL) Among Our Good Stocks to Buy Now
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and other commentary highlighted Alphabet as a long-term AI beneficiary, especially as rising model costs could strengthen demand for Google Cloud and infrastructure. Anthropic’s Priciest AI Model Yet Is Here. Why Alphabet and Amazon Will Benefit.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet sued an alleged Chinese cybercrime group accused of using Google’s AI tools to run scam operations, which shows the company is actively defending its platform but is not likely to move the stock much on its own. Google sues alleged Chinese cybercrime operation that used AI to send scam texts
• Neutral Sentiment: Some investors noted that Altimeter Capital fully exited its Alphabet stake in Q1, but this appears more like portfolio repositioning than a company-specific warning. Billionaire Brad Gerstner Dumped All of His Alphabet Then Bought 2 Stocks Nobody Expected

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 191,966 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,968. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $359.68 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $360.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $330.34. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend 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.