Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Boosted by QRG Capital Management Inc.

QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 15.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,020,309 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 138,515 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.0% of QRG Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $293,400,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. China Renaissance boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, CICC Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Two 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

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.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $357.18 on Monday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $372.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $336.63. The company has a market capitalization of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. 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 12 month low of $176.48 and a 12 month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.