Hilltop Holdings Inc. Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Hilltop Holdings Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 99,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,754 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.3% of Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

GOOGL opened at $305.56 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.27, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $349.00. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $318.90 and its 200 day simple moving average is $291.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total transaction of $184,038.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,624 shares in the company, valued at $6,325,999.52. This trade represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 2,076,615 shares of company stock worth $107,809,111 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Market perception that Alphabet has shifted from being “hunted” to a “hunter” in the AI race — investors interpret this as improved competitive positioning for search, ads and cloud monetization, supporting near?to?midterm growth expectations. Alphabet (GOOG) gained from its shift in the AI race from being ‘hunted’ to being a ‘hunter’
• Positive Sentiment: Google closed its ~$32B acquisition of Wiz — strengthens cloud security capabilities and enterprise positioning, which should help diversify revenue and deepen enterprise cloud relationships over time. Wiz investor unpacks Google’s $32B acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Needham reiterated a Buy on GOOGL, which can buoy investor sentiment and act as a near?term catalyst for buying interest. Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Heavy retail/investor attention and trending stock coverage (Zacks) — increased searches can raise volatility and volume, but are not a direct signal of fundamentals. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short?interest data shows zero reported short shares and a 0.0 days?to?cover — likely a reporting anomaly; not meaningful evidence of decreased bearish positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulatory risk: European publishers and tech firms are urging the EU to conclude a long antitrust probe and impose a fine on Google over alleged search favoritism — a faster or larger penalty could pressure revenue from search and create operational constraints. Exclusive: European publishers, tech firms urge EU to speed up fine on Google over search

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

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.