Beech Hill Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 27.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 23,829 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,850 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.6% of Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Beech Hill Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,458,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.
Key Alphabet News
- Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive — Wells Fargo kept an overweight rating (while trimming targets), and other outlets highlight Buy/Outperform views that point to meaningful upside from cloud/AI monetization. Wells Fargo Raised the PT on Alphabet Inc (GOOGL), Maintains a Buy Rating
- Positive Sentiment: Product/efficiency wins: Google’s Gemma 4 and the TurboQuant algorithm reduce model memory needs and improve on‑device/model efficiency — strengthens competitive moat and could lower operating costs for AI services. Google’s Gemma 4 brings AI superpowers to your device Google’s TurboQuant Breakthrough Just Rewrote the AI Playbook
- Positive Sentiment: Fundamental/earnings confidence: coverage from Zacks and others flags Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch the stock heading into earnings season. Earnings Growth & Price Strength Make Alphabet (GOOGL) a Stock to Watch
- Neutral Sentiment: Talent movement: Broadcom named Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as its next CFO — notable departure to monitor but not an immediate earnings event. Broadcom taps Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as next CFO
- Negative Sentiment: Regulatory probe in Turkey: the Turkish Competition Board opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — potential fines, business restrictions or remediation costs could hit ad revenue/operations in the region. Turkey launches investigation into Google over advertising, billing practices
- Negative Sentiment: Legal risk rises as Section 230 liability narrows: recent court losses for platforms (including YouTube/Google units) increase the probability of costly litigation and moderation compliance burdens. Meta, Google under attack as court cases bypass 30-year-old legal shield
- Negative Sentiment: Near‑term cash‑flow and capex concern: industry commentary warns that hyperscaler AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — elevates execution and financing risk until monetization of AI investments scales. Semianalysis CEO: Google’s free cash flow will hit zero next year from AI capex
- Negative Sentiment: Operational/ESG risk from data‑center power strategy: reporting that hyperscalers (including Google) are building large natural‑gas plants to power AI centers raises reputational, regulatory and long‑term transition risks. AI companies are building huge natural gas plants to power data centers. What could go wrong?
- Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: an SEC filing shows a senior exec sold ~9k shares in late March — modest in dollar terms but can be read negatively by short‑term traders. Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Insider Sells 8,993 Shares of Stock
Alphabet Stock Performance
Alphabet stock opened at $295.77 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $309.29 and its 200-day moving average is $296.27. The company has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $349.00.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Dividend Announcement
The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 7.77%.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 16th. New Street Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, UBS Group set a $348.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.33.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on GOOGL
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.
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