Ballast Financial Advisors LLC Makes New $480,000 Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Ballast Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 1,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $480,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Kentucky Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google Cloud is gaining momentum, with HSBC announcing a multi-year partnership to expand its AI usage on Google Cloud, and another AI startup, Ineffable Intelligence, choosing Google Cloud as its preferred infrastructure partner. These deals reinforce Alphabet’s position in enterprise AI and cloud growth. HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google also unveiled a new Gemini-powered Google Home Speaker and broader Android 17/Gemini updates, highlighting continued product rollout across consumer devices and AI features that could support ecosystem engagement over time. Google bets on Gemini to reinvent the smart home speaker
• Positive Sentiment: At the G7, Google DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis joined other AI leaders in calling for a U.S.-led AI coalition, underscoring Alphabet’s influence in shaping the AI industry and keeping Google front and center in policy discussions. CEOs of Anthropic and Google DeepMind call for U.S.-led AI coalition in meeting at G7
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and commentary pieces remain mixed, with some still bullish on Alphabet’s AI and cloud growth while others warn that heavy capital spending, competition, and a stretched valuation could limit upside near term. Alphabet Drops 6% in a Month: Buy, Sell, or Hold the GOOGL Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet faces fresh regulatory pressure in the U.K., where the competition watchdog set conduct requirements for Google Search to increase fairness and transparency in ranking results. That adds to worries about search monetization and long-term control over its core business. UK regulator sets out conduct requirements for Google’s search services

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $363.79 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $408.61. 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 has a market cap of $4.41 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $364.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost 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 of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 29th. Wolfe Research reduced their target price on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 10th. Phillip Securities increased their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Robert W. Baird increased their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Two 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 159,466 shares of company stock valued at $6,957,543. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Alphabet

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.