Stack Financial Management Inc Makes New Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Stack Financial Management Inc acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $415,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Ring Mountain Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,174,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Avaii Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Avaii Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $451,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Accel Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Accel Wealth Management now owns 4,068 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,276,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $993,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. DZ Bank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Freedom Capital lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Phillip Securities lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $348.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $362.73.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $397.17 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.33 and a 1 year high of $399.93. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $325.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $316.44. The firm has a market cap of $4.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 30.30, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.25.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.81 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 earnings per share 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 given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,187,638.65. This trade represents a 22.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 157,953 shares of company stock valued at $47,767,818. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses are being cited as key growth drivers, with reports emphasizing strong revenue growth, improving cloud margins, and a large backlog supporting future expansion.
• Positive Sentiment: New product and platform launches, including Googlebook laptops and broader Gemini AI integrations, are reinforcing the view that Alphabet can monetize AI across both software and hardware.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and investor commentary remains upbeat, with multiple bullish ratings, higher price targets, and articles arguing Alphabet still has room to run after its post-earnings surge. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Anthropic plans to spend heavily on Google infrastructure add to the narrative that Alphabet is becoming a central provider of AI compute capacity.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.