Royal Fund Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 26.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 46,766 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,860 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.3% of Royal Fund Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,642,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.
Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Range Financial Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Range Financial Group LLC now owns 3,138 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $982,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 20,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,274,000 after acquiring an additional 436 shares in the last quarter. 4J Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. 4J Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,134,000 after acquiring an additional 105 shares in the last quarter. LifeGoal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 32.3% during the fourth quarter. LifeGoal Investments LLC now owns 2,234 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $699,000 after purchasing an additional 546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated grew its position in Alphabet by 8.1% in the fourth quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 35,233 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,058,000 after purchasing an additional 2,636 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Daiwa Securities Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Moffett Nathanson raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.33.
Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Broadcom signs a multi‑year deal to develop and supply Google’s next‑generation custom AI chips and data‑center components, reducing supply uncertainty for Google’s AI racks and supporting cloud/AI margin leverage. Broadcom signs long-term deal to develop Google’s custom AI chips (Reuters)
- Positive Sentiment: Expanded Broadcom/Google/Anthropic collaboration increases compute capacity commitments and validates strong demand for Google’s TPUs and rack infrastructure — a positive for Google Cloud positioning and unit economics. Broadcom agrees to expanded chip deals with Google, Anthropic (CNBC)
- Positive Sentiment: Anthropic’s increased compute deal with Google and Broadcom underscores rising demand for Google‑hosted model capacity and could boost revenue from enterprise AI partnerships. Anthropic ups compute deal with Google and Broadcom (TechCrunch)
- Positive Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai says the AI shift creates more opportunities to invest in startups (SpaceX, Anthropic cited), signaling proactive capital deployment into strategic AI partners and potential long‑term ecosystem benefits. Pichai: AI shift opens opportunities to invest in startups (CNBC)
- Positive Sentiment: Waymo opens driverless rides to the public in Nashville, advancing commercial autonomy efforts and potential ride‑hailing revenue streams for Alphabet’s self‑driving unit. Waymo Opens Driverless Rides to the Public in Nashville (CNET)
- Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary and trending coverage (Zacks, Citizens analyst update, market pieces) keep Alphabet on investors’ watchlists; these items support interest but don’t change fundamentals immediately. Alphabet lapping the market (Zacks)
- Negative Sentiment: Shareholder pressure over data‑center water and power use highlights potential permitting delays, higher compliance costs and reputational risk for large buildouts. Investors press Amazon, Microsoft and Google on water, power use (Reuters)
- Negative Sentiment: A NYT analysis questions the accuracy and sourcing of Google’s AI‑generated overviews, flagging reputational and regulatory risks that could affect ad quality and product trust. How Accurate Are Google’s A.I. Overviews? (NYT)
- Negative Sentiment: Insider sale by Alphabet’s CAO was reported; size is modest but such filings can be viewed negatively in short term. Insider Selling: CAO Sells Stock (American Banking News)
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In other Alphabet 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 in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the 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 sale, the director owned 18,418 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,069,344 shares of company stock valued at $104,708,426. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $305.46 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G 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. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $308.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $297.62. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $143.03 and a one year high of $349.00.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Dividend Announcement
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.
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.
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