Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,781,915 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $870,739,000. Alphabet makes up about 6.1% of Life Cycle Investment Partners Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,338,397,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its stake in Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in Alphabet by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares during the period. Finally, Mizuho Markets Cayman LP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23,402.1% in the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 6,118,547 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,487,419,000 after acquiring an additional 6,092,513 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Evercore raised their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Two 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet secured a major cloud deal with SpaceX, adding a high-profile customer and boosting the investment case for its AI infrastructure business. SpaceX signs cloud deal with Google
• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research raised its price target on Alphabet to $455 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued Wall Street confidence. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports said Google’s AI search and chatbot products faced criticism after an audit found many chatbot responses on elections were flawed, which may keep pressure on Alphabet’s AI credibility. Over 90% of AI chatbot answers about midterm elections are flawed, stunning analysis shows
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s large equity raise and higher AI capex guidance are still weighing on sentiment because investors are questioning how quickly those investments will pay off. Alphabet is seeking fresh capital as stock’s 4-week losing streak tests investor appetite
• Negative Sentiment: Google also faces regulatory pressure in the UK over publisher-content rules in AI search, adding another policy risk for the business. Google search facing UK ‘conduct requirement’

Alphabet Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $368.53 on Friday. 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 stock has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $352.70 and a 200 day moving average of $327.81. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.41%.

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.