Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Cornerstone Advisory LLC

Cornerstone Advisory LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 69,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,253 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 2.1% of Cornerstone Advisory LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest position. Cornerstone Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,746,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,984,744,000 after buying an additional 1,034,292 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 39,250,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,541,877,000 after buying an additional 392,547 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.0%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $388.64 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50 day moving average is $322.04 and its two-hundred day moving average is $313.71. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.16 and a 52 week high of $402.00. The company has a market cap of $4.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.41%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet briefly surpassed NVIDIA in market value, highlighting renewed investor confidence in its AI strategy and earnings strength. Alphabet Is on the Brink of Beating NVIDIA in Market Value: ETFs to Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Google said it likely thwarted an AI-generated zero-day exploit, underscoring the strength of its cybersecurity capabilities and AI threat-detection tools. Google says it likely thwarted effort by hacker group to use AI for ‘mass exploitation event’
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is expanding Google Finance into Europe as part of its AI-focused product rollout, supporting the case for continued AI-driven innovation across its ecosystem. Google Finance Continues AI-Focused Expansion With EU Launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is planning its first yen-denominated bond offering to help fund rising AI infrastructure spending, adding to its recent debt raises in other currencies. Alphabet considers first yen bond sale to fund AI goals
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports that short interest increased were based on zero shares reported, so they do not appear to provide meaningful directional signal for GOOGL.
• Negative Sentiment: The U.S. Commerce Department removed details from a public page about AI security testing involving Google, Microsoft, and xAI, which could raise mild regulatory transparency questions. Microsoft, Google, xAI security test details deleted from US government website

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total transaction of $9,859,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $508,028,012.80. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total value of $348,232.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 3,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. This represents a 22.67% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 158,553 shares of company stock worth $47,951,856. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Bank of America increased their price target on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Alphabet from $397.00 to $361.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $407.86.

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.