CENTRAL TRUST Co Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

CENTRAL TRUST Co lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 268,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,508 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of CENTRAL TRUST Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $77,186,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Arete Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,132,701. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This represents 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 151,523 shares of company stock worth $4,863,526. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain constructive on Alphabet’s growth outlook, pointing to rising advertising revenue and AI-driven ad tools as support for further upside. Alphabet Benefits From Rising Advertising Revenues: More Upside Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is joining the Dow were viewed as a sign of prestige and long-term institutional support for the stock. Google Parent Alphabet Is Joining the Dow. Time to Buy?
• Positive Sentiment: Apple is reportedly paying Alphabet about $1 billion a year to use Gemini in Siri, highlighting another monetization path for Google’s AI platform even if the deal is smaller than Google’s search-payment arrangement with Apple. Apple Is Paying Google $1 Billion a Year for AI. Here’s Who the Real Winner Is.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wedbush said the recent sell-off in major AI names looks more like short-term investor impatience than a breakdown in the AI trade, suggesting the broader pullback may be a buying opportunity. Wedbush brushes off tech sell-off as buying chance in multi-year AI bull run
• Neutral Sentiment: Google Finance launched a new app and upgraded portfolio-tracking features, which improve the product offering but are unlikely to move the stock on their own. Google Finance Debuts App and Investment Tracking Capabilities
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet is facing renewed concern over AI talent departures, including reports of senior researchers leaving for rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI, which raises questions about execution in Gemini and its broader AI strategy. Alphabet Shares Fall After Report on Further AI Talent Departures
• Negative Sentiment: Google is also drawing criticism for tougher negotiations with publishers over AI content access, potentially worsening relations with media partners already seeing traffic declines from AI search changes. Google looks to bleed publishers with new AI partnerships that would cull their content
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple reports say AI-focused stocks, including Alphabet, are under pressure as investors question whether the “all-in on AI” trade has gone too far in the near term. PLTR, GOOG and MSFT Forecasts – AI Names Struggling at the Moment

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $337.39 on Monday. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $171.73 and a one year high of $408.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $368.94 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $333.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

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.