Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Sells 59,784 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 25.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 171,116 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 59,784 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 3.8% of Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Applied Finance Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $53,559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co raised its stake 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 worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Dbs Bank increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Freedom Capital lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.04.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,132,701. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

GOOGL opened at $358.99 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 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 price of $349.51 and a 200 day moving average price of $326.85. 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 announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s reported $10 billion commitment to Alphabet’s capital raise is a strong vote of confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy, helping validate the long-term investment case. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street continues to frame Alphabet as a major AI beneficiary, with analysts reaffirming bullish price targets and noting rising demand for Google Cloud and AI infrastructure. Alphabet had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Lovable’s expanded multi-year Google Cloud deal highlights ongoing customer demand for Alphabet’s cloud services, but it is a modest business development rather than a major near-term catalyst. Lovable signs multi-year deal with Google Cloud to up usage 5x, source says
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around the AI boom and Alphabet’s expanding role in the sector supports the growth narrative, but much of it is sentiment-driven rather than a direct earnings update. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s massive $84.75 billion equity raise is stirring dilution concerns and signaling that AI infrastructure spending will remain extremely capital intensive, which has weighed on the stock. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators imposed new conduct requirements on Google Search, including giving publishers more control over AI use of their content, adding a fresh regulatory overhang for Alphabet’s search and AI businesses. UK regulator enforces new competition requirements for Google search

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.