Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.’s Largest Position

Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,174,821 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 181,898 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 10.6% of Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $680,719,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Schiavi & Co LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 70.4% during the fourth quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC now owns 161,575 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,573,000 after buying an additional 66,755 shares during the last quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 21.9% during the fourth quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 1,319,039 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $412,859,000 after buying an additional 236,587 shares during the last quarter. Vistica Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Finally, Tillman Hartley LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 11.1% during the fourth quarter. Tillman Hartley LLC now owns 7,163 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,242,000 after buying an additional 718 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $359.68 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $360.45 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $330.26. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The firm has a market cap of $4.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business 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 positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

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 related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and set a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. New Street Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $445.00 price target (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

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.