May Hill Capital LLC Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

May Hill Capital LLC lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 111.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 18,850 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,944 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of May Hill Capital LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest position. May Hill Capital LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,900,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 100 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. China Renaissance increased their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $435.00 price target (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.04.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $372.19 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $351.15 and a 200-day simple moving average of $327.52. The company has a market capitalization of $4.51 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. 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 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet raised its capital plan to $84.75 billion to fund AI infrastructure and cloud capacity, signaling it expects strong demand for compute and is willing to invest heavily to protect and grow its long-term AI position. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Apple reportedly tapped Google Cloud to help power a revamped Siri, which could add a high-profile customer for Alphabet’s cloud business and reinforce its AI infrastructure monetization story. PYMNTS article
• Positive Sentiment: Lovable expanded its multi-year Google Cloud relationship, another sign that Google Cloud is winning AI-related usage and customer growth. TechCrunch article
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a buy rating and a $450 price target, reflecting continued analyst confidence in Alphabet’s cloud and AI growth potential. Benzinga article
• Neutral Sentiment: Several prominent investors, including Berkshire Hathaway and ARK, were reported as buying Alphabet shares, which supports sentiment but does not change fundamentals on its own. Barron’s article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also received a softer-than-feared UK antitrust ruling that requires new conduct changes and lets publishers opt out of AI training, which may limit some data use but reduces the risk of a harsher regulatory outcome. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google is quietly laying off staff in Cloud, including parts of its cybersecurity team, may weigh on sentiment by raising questions about cost discipline and internal restructuring. Business Insider article

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.