Westchester Capital Management Inc. Sells 3,752 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Westchester Capital Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 104,719 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,752 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 6.8% of Westchester Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Westchester Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,777,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Symmetry Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Members Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,489,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,274,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s drone unit Wing expanded its Walmart partnership into seven more U.S. cities, pushing the service toward nearly 20 markets and signaling that drone delivery is moving from experiment to scalable business. Alphabet’s Most Overlooked Division Just Had a Big Week
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo launched a new $29.99 monthly membership program with perks for frequent riders, a move that suggests the robotaxi business is building recurring revenue on top of rapid ride-growth. Waymo launches premier subscription tier for $29.99 a month, starting in select cities
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen raised its price target on Alphabet, adding to the bullish analyst backdrop and supporting the view that the stock still has room to run. Alphabet (GOOGL) Among Our Good Stocks to Buy Now
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and other commentary highlighted Alphabet as a long-term AI beneficiary, especially as rising model costs could strengthen demand for Google Cloud and infrastructure. Anthropic’s Priciest AI Model Yet Is Here. Why Alphabet and Amazon Will Benefit.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet sued an alleged Chinese cybercrime group accused of using Google’s AI tools to run scam operations, which shows the company is actively defending its platform but is not likely to move the stock much on its own. Google sues alleged Chinese cybercrime operation that used AI to send scam texts
• Neutral Sentiment: Some investors noted that Altimeter Capital fully exited its Alphabet stake in Q1, but this appears more like portfolio repositioning than a company-specific warning. Billionaire Brad Gerstner Dumped All of His Alphabet Then Bought 2 Stocks Nobody Expected

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $359.68 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $360.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $330.26. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.44, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 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 given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and set a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. CICC Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Freedom Capital lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $413.13.

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.