Essex Bank Has $8.58 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Essex Bank lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 27,422 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,575 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.9% of Essex Bank’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest position. Essex Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co raised its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $435.00 price target (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Argus boosted their price target on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $412.65.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $388.91 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.00 and a 12-month high of $408.61. 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 price is $334.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $320.07. The stock has a market cap of $4.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.41%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google I/O showcase highlighted a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, coding, and video tools, reinforcing expectations that Google can monetize AI rather than just defend against competitors. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Google and Blackstone announced a $5 billion joint venture to build AI cloud infrastructure powered by Google’s TPU chips, which could expand demand for Alphabet’s custom silicon and strengthen its enterprise AI ecosystem. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts turned more constructive after I/O, with firms including BofA, KeyCorp, Citizens JMP, Needham, and others reiterating or raising targets, signaling confidence that Alphabet’s AI strategy is gaining traction. Alphabet analyst forecasts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet said Gemini now has 900 million monthly users and AI Overviews has 2.5 billion monthly users, showing that its AI products are already operating at significant scale. Google kicks off I/O conference with AI upgrades for coders, consumers
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet also introduced new AI-powered search and shopping features, including agentic tools and a universal cart, which could open additional monetization opportunities. Google’s new Universal Cart wants to follow you across the entire internet
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider and shareholder sales were disclosed, including a director sale and a larger shareholder sale, but these appear to be routine filings rather than a clear signal of changing fundamentals. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Ofcom said YouTube and TikTok have not done enough to protect British children from harmful content, adding another layer of regulatory scrutiny for Alphabet’s YouTube business. TikTok, YouTube lag on UK child safety as rivals act, regulator says
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors worry that Google’s AI-heavy search redesign could pressure its core ad model by reducing reliance on the traditional “ten blue links” format. Google Search as you know it is over

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.