Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by ARS Investment Partners LLC

ARS Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.7% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 274,461 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,055 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 4.1% of ARS Investment Partners LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. ARS Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $78,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $30,534,239,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,338,397,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,546,413,000 after purchasing an additional 13,004,828 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. China Renaissance increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Dbs Bank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, HSBC restated a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Two equities 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, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet will replace Verizon in the Dow Jones Industrial Average effective June 29, a notable prestige boost that could support passive fund buying and improve investor sentiment. Alphabet Set to Join and Honeywell International to Remain in Dow Jones Industrial Average
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reaffirmed its Buy rating on Alphabet, reinforcing confidence in the company’s long-term outlook. Alphabet had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet remains a major AI infrastructure beneficiary, with reports noting accelerating demand at Google Cloud, quarterly cloud revenue above $20 billion, and strong enterprise AI adoption. Alphabet Rides on Accelerating AI Infrastructure Demand: What’s Ahead?
• Neutral Sentiment: Google DeepMind announced a $75 million AI research partnership with A24, signaling continued investment in AI applications outside core search and cloud. Google DeepMind signs AI research deal with film studio A24
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is still dominant in search, but new reports suggest competition from AI-powered alternatives is putting pressure on its long-term search leadership. Google’s online dominance Is showing signs of cracking in AI era
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment was hurt by the departure of key AI figures, including Noam Shazeer and John Jumper, raising concerns that Alphabet is losing talent to OpenAI and Anthropic. Alphabet paces for worst day in a year on AI concerns after high-profile exits
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports say Google’s search dominance may be starting to crack as users test non-AI or AI-free search options, adding pressure on the company’s core revenue engine. Google Losing Ground as Consumers Seek Out Non-AI Search
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market concern over heavy AI capital spending and higher rates also weighed on megacap tech shares, contributing to Alphabet’s weakness. Alphabet, SpaceX, Intel, and More Stocks That Explain Today’s Market

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $346.66 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.20 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.44, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $368.25 and its 200-day simple moving average is $332.50. 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 52 week low of $166.13 and a 52 week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Equities research analysts predict 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,604. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet 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.