Choate Investment Advisors Sells 11,772 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Choate Investment Advisors trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 299,810 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 11,772 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.8% of Choate Investment Advisors’ portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Choate Investment Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $93,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Symmetry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,476,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Members Trust Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,274,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s long-term AI opportunity remains a major bullish theme, with analysts arguing the company’s heavy investment could support future revenue growth and strengthen its competitive position in search, cloud, and AI. Alphabet: CapEx Pressure Is Real, But The Long-Term AI Opportunity Is Bigger
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to benefit from broader AI enthusiasm, including reports that Apple is turning to Google for help with its AI overhaul and that Google’s cloud and AI capabilities are being tied to major customer wins and partnerships. Apple tries again on AI, turns to Google for help
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo remains a strategic asset for Alphabet, with new robotaxi-related developments highlighting the unit’s leadership in autonomous driving and potential to unlock long-term value. Uber, Wayve and Waymo are headed towards a robotaxi showdown in London
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is drawing investor attention after its latest earnings results showed strong quarterly performance, including earnings and revenue that beat expectations, which helps support the stock’s long-term valuation. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s dividend and other capital-return details are also getting attention, but these are unlikely to be the main driver of the stock’s move today. Google to pay dividends next week; Here’s how much 100 GOOGL shares will earn
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are sliding because investors appear worried that Alphabet’s expanding AI spending could pressure margins and require more capital than expected before those investments pay off. What’s Going On With Alphabet Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Recent market-wide volatility has also weighed on megacap tech stocks, adding to the weakness in Alphabet despite the company’s long-term AI story. Alphabet (GOOGL) Stock Slides as Market Rises: Facts to Know Before You Trade

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho raised their target price on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. New Street Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Phillip Securities raised their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

GOOGL stock opened at $363.31 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.40 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.71, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $354.35 and its 200-day moving average price is $328.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current 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 given 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 of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

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.