Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is HighTower Advisors LLC’s 9th Largest Position

HighTower Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,884,911 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 91,176 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.3% of HighTower Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,215,977,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $53,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $69,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOGL. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 target price (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their target price on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital increased their target price on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,132,701. The trade was a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet secured a major cloud deal with SpaceX, adding a high-profile customer and boosting the investment case for its AI infrastructure business. SpaceX signs cloud deal with Google
• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research raised its price target on Alphabet to $455 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued Wall Street confidence. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports said Google’s AI search and chatbot products faced criticism after an audit found many chatbot responses on elections were flawed, which may keep pressure on Alphabet’s AI credibility. Over 90% of AI chatbot answers about midterm elections are flawed, stunning analysis shows
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s large equity raise and higher AI capex guidance are still weighing on sentiment because investors are questioning how quickly those investments will pay off. Alphabet is seeking fresh capital as stock’s 4-week losing streak tests investor appetite
• Negative Sentiment: Google also faces regulatory pressure in the UK over publisher-content rules in AI search, adding another policy risk for the business. Google search facing UK ‘conduct requirement’

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $368.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $352.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $327.81. 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 released its quarterly 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 business 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, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 6.41%.

About Alphabet

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.