Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Takes $15.69 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 50,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $15,690,000.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,240,469,000 after purchasing an additional 7,904,434 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,749,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,203 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,583,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,935,671,000 after purchasing an additional 223,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 28,625,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,971,769,000 after purchasing an additional 539,679 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary says Alphabet was one of the biggest winners among the Mag 7 this earnings season, helped by accelerating Google Cloud sales and broader AI-driven strength. Alphabet and NVIDIA: The Biggest Mag 7 Winners This Earnings Season
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts highlighted Alphabet’s new AI ad formats and shopping tools as potential catalysts for stronger search monetization, higher conversion rates, and increased ad spending. Alphabet’s new AI ad formats seen boosting conversions and spending
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet also announced a large $15 billion data center and AI infrastructure investment in Missouri, reinforcing investor confidence in its cloud and AI buildout. Google Deepens Missouri Roots with New Data Center, Energy, and Community Investments
• Neutral Sentiment: Google unveiled new AI search and agent features at I/O, which could improve engagement over time, but the rollout also raised concerns about complexity and possible disruption to the traditional search experience. You can no longer Google the word ‘disregard’
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo temporarily paused some robotaxi and freeway services after safety issues in flooded roads and construction zones; while this is not core to Alphabet’s profits, it adds execution risk and negative headlines. Waymo suspends freeway rides, pauses Atlanta operations amid safety fixes
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet has appealed the U.S. search-monopoly ruling, keeping antitrust overhang and potential remedies in focus for investors. Google appeals US court ruling on search monopoly

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. DZ Bank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Truist Financial set a $385.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.65.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $379.38 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.33 and a 1 year high of $404.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $335.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $321.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.60 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.62 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.81 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 6.41%.

About Alphabet

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.