Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.’s 4th Largest Position

T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 45.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,737,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,313,745 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.7% of T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 0.11% of Alphabet worth $4,299,721,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. WealthPoint Financial LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $788,000. Van Diest Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,422,000. Compound Planning Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.8% in the fourth quarter. Compound Planning Inc. now owns 155,130 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $48,556,000 after purchasing an additional 22,370 shares during the last quarter. Briggs Wealth Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $363,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,394,474 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,208,470,000 after buying an additional 208,362 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s core AI and cloud story got another boost after reports highlighted strong earnings momentum and a rapidly expanding Google Cloud backlog, reinforcing the view that business demand remains healthy. Alphabet Just Beat Earnings by 94% and Doubled Its Cloud Backlog to $460 Billion
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway disclosed that it nearly tripled its Alphabet stake, a notable vote of confidence from a major value investor that may support sentiment. Warren Buffett Just Tripled Down on the Stock Bill Ackman Is Selling
• Positive Sentiment: HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand AI usage, adding another large enterprise customer to Alphabet’s cloud growth narrative. HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled new AI-related plans, including an “AI Control Roadmap” to address rogue AI agents, underscoring continued investment and leadership in AI infrastructure and safety. Google Devises Battle Plan to Combat Rogue AI Agents
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s AI talent war remains a focus after Noam Shazeer, a co-lead on Gemini, reportedly left for OpenAI, which may raise questions about retention but does not change the core business overnight. Google’s Gemini co-lead Noam Shazeer to join OpenAI
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo issued a recall of about 3,900 robotaxis after software issues caused vehicles to enter highway construction zones, adding regulatory and execution risk to Alphabet’s self-driving unit. Waymo to recall over 3,800 robotaxis over risk of entering closed construction zones
• Negative Sentiment: A director sold a meaningful block of shares, which can modestly weigh on sentiment even though insider sales are not always a bearish signal. SEC filing for John L. Hennessy sale

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $368.48 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. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.00 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $366.01 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $331.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Arete Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.