Stack Financial Management Inc Invests $495,000 in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Stack Financial Management Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 1,580 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $495,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Q1 results were highlighted as one of the strongest among the Mag 7, with Google Cloud showing accelerating sales growth and broader AI momentum helping investor sentiment. Alphabet and NVIDIA: The Biggest Mag 7 Winners This Earnings Season
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s I/O announcements continued to reinforce Alphabet’s AI story, including new AI search experiences, agent tools, and upcoming AI glasses that suggest the company is expanding beyond traditional search. We tried Google’s AI glasses and they’re almost there
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on the stock, with multiple firms reiterating positive views and new AI ad formats seen as potentially boosting conversions and monetization in Search and Commerce. Alphabet’s new AI ad formats seen boosting conversions and spending
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled a $15 billion Missouri data center investment, underscoring continued capital spending to support AI infrastructure and cloud demand. Google Unveils $15 Billion Missouri Data Center Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed Google’s revamped AI-driven search experience and agent ecosystem, which are strategically important but still too early to measure their near-term financial impact. Google is pitching an AI agent ecosystem to consumers who may not buy it
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo temporarily suspended service in multiple cities after robotaxis drove into flooded roads, adding another safety and execution concern for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit. Waymo suspends freeway rides, pauses Atlanta operations amid safety fixes
• Negative Sentiment: Google’s appeal of the antitrust ruling remains the biggest overhang, since a loss or forced remedies could eventually weigh on the company’s core search and advertising economics. Google appeals US court ruling on search monopoly

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. New Street Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $412.65.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. The trade was a 22.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $382.97 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.21, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $337.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $321.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. 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%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.41%.

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.