TRB Advisors LP Invests $9.39 Million in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

TRB Advisors LP acquired a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 30,000 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,390,000. Alphabet makes up 2.2% of TRB Advisors LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Carroll Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $282,000. Buckhead Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Buckhead Capital Management LLC now owns 34,528 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,807,000 after buying an additional 1,837 shares in the last quarter. White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 30.8% in the 4th quarter. White Lighthouse Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,122 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,168,000 after buying an additional 2,384 shares in the last quarter. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV increased its stake in Alphabet by 14.7% in the 4th quarter. Planning Alternatives Ltd. ADV now owns 4,162 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,303,000 after buying an additional 534 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CFO4Life Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC now owns 28,996 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,076,000 after buying an additional 353 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital increased their price target on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $445.00 price target (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Alphabet News Roundup

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 Down 1.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $368.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.00 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $352.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $327.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The business 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.