Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd.’s 2nd Largest Position

Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd. cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 381,490 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 34,473 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 11.7% of Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Bronte Capital Management Pty Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $109,701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Symmetry Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Private Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $730,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,489,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Insight 2811 Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $978,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $1.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $357.18. 18,122,822 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 32,870,564. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $372.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $336.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $176.48 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm 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%. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current 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 paid a $0.22 dividend. 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 yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $435.00 to $416.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $415.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.92.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its price target on Alphabet to $445 from $425 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing the view that the stock still has meaningful upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple upbeat articles highlighted Alphabet as a leading AI and cloud beneficiary, with commentary pointing to strong distribution through Search, Android, YouTube, Google Cloud, and chips as reasons it could monetize AI better than peers.
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage argued Alphabet looks undervalued after a big run over the past year, while other pieces said the company remains one of the most attractive megacap tech names on a risk/reward basis.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other market commentators continued to include GOOGL among cloud and internet stocks positioned to benefit from AI-driven data center spending and digital demand growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Business and tech commentary also pointed to product and platform strengths, including Google Search setting records during the World Cup and Waymo planning more driverless-car expansion, which support the long-term growth narrative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet said it will begin disclosing which ads are generated with AI, a transparency move that may help trust and compliance but is unlikely to materially change near-term earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Britain moved to regulate Google as a critical cloud supplier to protect financial stability; the change adds oversight, but it also underscores the importance of Google Cloud rather than signaling a fundamental business setback.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Google is appealing an Indian ads-related trademark ruling, a legal issue that could create some noise but does not yet appear to be a major stock-moving event.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short-interest data was effectively flat at zero shares reported, offering little actionable signal for traders.
• Negative Sentiment: One Reuters-linked report said Google and OpenAI provided AI services to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Chinese groups on the Pentagon blacklist, which could raise regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical commentary noted Alphabet is testing a key resistance zone after a recovery, suggesting the stock may need a fresh catalyst to extend its move higher.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.