Baron Wealth Management LLC Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 87.5% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,769 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,091 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.8% of Baron Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Baron Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,516,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $58,712,878,000 after purchasing an additional 953,790 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its position in Alphabet by 38,409.2% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after purchasing an additional 179,369,280 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,174,429,000 after purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,151 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Key AI researchers have left Alphabet for competitors, intensifying worries that the company is losing critical talent needed to lead in generative AI. Reuters: Google DeepMind signs AI research deal with film studio A24
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also worried that Alphabet’s aggressive AI spending plans, including a large equity raise to fund infrastructure and compute, could dilute shareholders and pressure free cash flow. Quiver Quantitative: Alphabet Slides as AI Funding Plan Fuels Dilution Worries
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also announced a $75 million AI research partnership with A24, showing it is still investing in new AI use cases, but this was overshadowed by the talent-loss narrative. TechCrunch: Google DeepMind bets $75M on AI’s future in Hollywood with A24 deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent fundamentals remain strong, with Alphabet’s latest quarter beating expectations on both earnings and revenue, which helps offset some of the negative sentiment. Alphabet stock page

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $348.78 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $364.96 and its 200 day moving average is $331.41. The stock has a market cap of $4.23 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.60, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.23. 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.33 and a twelve month high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.81 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. 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 is currently 6.71%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Pivotal Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $470.00 target price (up from $420.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 29th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. TD Cowen boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $376.78.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.