Clearstead Trust LLC Has $17.39 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Clearstead Trust LLC decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 55,570 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,828 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.7% of Clearstead Trust LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Clearstead Trust LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,393,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 16,877 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,283,000 after buying an additional 806 shares in the last quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Clearstead Advisors LLC now owns 323,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $101,368,000 after purchasing an additional 4,591 shares during the last quarter. Churchill Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $7,761,000. SLT Holdings LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 31.0% in the fourth quarter. SLT Holdings LLC now owns 1,817 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $569,000 after purchasing an additional 430 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Elite Life Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 91.1% in the fourth quarter. Elite Life Management LLC now owns 2,517 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $813,000 after purchasing an additional 1,200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Evercore upped their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Bank of America raised their price objective on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $368.53 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.58 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. The business has a 50 day moving average of $352.70 and a 200-day moving average of $328.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.00 and a 52 week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet secured a major cloud deal with SpaceX, adding a high-profile customer and boosting the investment case for its AI infrastructure business. SpaceX signs cloud deal with Google
• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research raised its price target on Alphabet to $455 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued Wall Street confidence. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports said Google’s AI search and chatbot products faced criticism after an audit found many chatbot responses on elections were flawed, which may keep pressure on Alphabet’s AI credibility. Over 90% of AI chatbot answers about midterm elections are flawed, stunning analysis shows
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s large equity raise and higher AI capex guidance are still weighing on sentiment because investors are questioning how quickly those investments will pay off. Alphabet is seeking fresh capital as stock’s 4-week losing streak tests investor appetite
• Negative Sentiment: Google also faces regulatory pressure in the UK over publisher-content rules in AI search, adding another policy risk for the business. Google search facing UK ‘conduct requirement’

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.