Clare Market Investments LLC Purchases Shares of 84,090 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Clare Market Investments LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 84,090 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $24,181,000. Alphabet accounts for about 5.1% of Clare Market Investments LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,534,239,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 855.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,546,413,000 after acquiring an additional 13,004,828 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 28,950.0% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,671,986,000 after acquiring an additional 9,259,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. China Renaissance raised their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 price target (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Three 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Warren Buffett said he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s Alphabet investment, a high-profile endorsement that is helping sentiment around Alphabet (GOOGL). Warren Buffett tells CNBC he initiated Berkshire Hathaway’s investment in Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst previews say Alphabet’s AI momentum, cloud backlog, and earnings growth expectations could support another strong quarter, keeping investors upbeat ahead of results. Alphabet’s AI Spending Question Looms Over Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Alphabet to strong-buy, citing earnings growth expectations and attractive fundamentals relative to its valuation. Zacks upgrade to strong-buy
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet expanded its clean-energy commitments with its largest solar and battery storage purchase yet, which supports its long-term infrastructure strategy but is not an immediate earnings driver. Google’s biggest clean power project is 40 miles north of xAI’s unpermitted gas power plant
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also drew attention for a new collaboration with INVIDI Technologies to extend addressable advertising to set-top boxes, a potentially helpful ad-tech expansion but still early-stage. INVIDI Technologies Collaborates with Google to Integrate Google Ad Manager
• Negative Sentiment: The European Commission is preparing new fines against Google, renewing regulatory risk and adding pressure to Alphabet’s legal overhang. EU Prepares to Fine Google as Part of Increased Big Tech Enforcement
• Negative Sentiment: Google is also fighting antitrust scrutiny in Europe and Switzerland, including efforts to preserve a court ruling that overturned a $1.7 billion EU fine and a new Swiss probe over Android search defaults. Google urges EU top court to back ruling scrapping $1.7 billion antitrust fine
• Negative Sentiment: Separate reports raised concerns about Google’s AI search tools and a DeepMind researcher’s resignation over the company’s Pentagon work, both of which could add reputational risk. A DeepMind researcher resigned over its AI military deal

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $370.92 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $370.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $337.62. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $180.48 and a one year high of $408.61. The firm has a market cap of $4.49 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.29, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 6.71%.

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.