Castleark Management LLC Boosts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Castleark Management LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 381,639 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,760 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.5% of Castleark Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $119,453,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co lifted its position in Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $69,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 in the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $359.68 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a 50 day moving average of $360.45 and a 200-day moving average of $330.26. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Alphabet News Roundup

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Evercore upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Barclays reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 target price (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.