7,738 Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Purchased by Van Diest Capital LLC

Van Diest Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,738 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,422,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.6% of Van Diest Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $4,338,397,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 855.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,546,413,000 after buying an additional 13,004,828 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOGL. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Roth Mkm restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, China Renaissance boosted their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two investment 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s core AI and cloud story got another boost after reports highlighted strong earnings momentum and a rapidly expanding Google Cloud backlog, reinforcing the view that business demand remains healthy. Alphabet Just Beat Earnings by 94% and Doubled Its Cloud Backlog to $460 Billion
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it nearly tripled its Alphabet stake, a notable vote of confidence from a major value investor that may support sentiment. Warren Buffett Just Tripled Down on the Stock Bill Ackman Is Selling
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand AI usage, adding another large enterprise customer to Alphabet’s cloud growth narrative. HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled new AI-related plans, including an “AI Control Roadmap” to address rogue AI agents, underscoring continued investment and leadership in AI infrastructure and safety. Google Devises Battle Plan to Combat Rogue AI Agents
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s AI talent war remains a focus after Noam Shazeer, a co-lead on Gemini, reportedly left for OpenAI, which may raise questions about retention but does not change the core business overnight. Google’s Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to join OpenAI
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo issued a recall of about 3,900 robotaxis after software issues caused vehicles to enter highway construction zones, adding regulatory and execution risk to Alphabet’s self-driving unit. Waymo to recall over 3,800 robotaxis over risk of entering closed construction zones
• Negative Sentiment: A director sold a meaningful block of shares, which can modestly weigh on sentiment even though insider sales are not always a bearish signal. SEC filing for John L. Hennessy sale

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $368.48 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $366.01 and a two-hundred day moving average of $331.69. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,604 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.