Ally Financial Inc. Purchases 20,500 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Ally Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 97.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 41,500 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,500 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.6% of Ally Financial Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Ally Financial Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,990,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $69,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 price target (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research 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 MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $359.68 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 $4.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. 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 $360.45 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $330.26.

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 14.3 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 6.71%.

Key Alphabet News

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

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.