Sherman Asset Management Inc. Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sherman Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,382 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,400 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 5.7% of Sherman Asset Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Sherman Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s reported $10 billion commitment to Alphabet’s capital raise is a strong vote of confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy, helping validate the long-term investment case. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street continues to frame Alphabet as a major AI beneficiary, with analysts reaffirming bullish price targets and noting rising demand for Google Cloud and AI infrastructure. Alphabet had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Lovable’s expanded multi-year Google Cloud deal highlights ongoing customer demand for Alphabet’s cloud services, but it is a modest business development rather than a major near-term catalyst. Lovable signs multi-year deal with Google Cloud to up usage 5x, source says
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around the AI boom and Alphabet’s expanding role in the sector supports the growth narrative, but much of it is sentiment-driven rather than a direct earnings update. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s massive $84.75 billion equity raise is stirring dilution concerns and signaling that AI infrastructure spending will remain extremely capital intensive, which has weighed on the stock. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators imposed new conduct requirements on Google Search, including giving publishers more control over AI use of their content, adding a fresh regulatory overhang for Alphabet’s search and AI businesses. UK regulator enforces new competition requirements for Google search

Alphabet Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $358.99 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $349.51 and a 200-day moving average of $326.85.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, April 20th. 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.04.

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.