Hixon Zuercher LLC Sells 8,866 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Hixon Zuercher LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 28.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,817 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,866 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.1% of Hixon Zuercher LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Hixon Zuercher LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,829,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Kentucky Trust Co boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, PayPay Securities Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 23.7% in the 4th quarter. PayPay Securities Corp now owns 245 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $77,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the sale, the director owned 3,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. The trade was a 22.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 191,884 shares of company stock valued at $59,121,365 over the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 10.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $384.80 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $313.72 and a 200-day moving average of $307.81. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $147.84 and a twelve month high of $385.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.17 and a beta of 1.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 41.25%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 11.54 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Blowout Q1 — EPS and revenue materially beat expectations, with Google Cloud reporting very strong growth that convinced investors the company’s AI investments are driving near‑term monetization. GOOGL Q1 Earnings Beat (Zacks)
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud / AI momentum — Google Cloud grew ~63% y/y, AI product revenues surged and management cited a multi‑hundred‑billion backlog, supporting upside to future revenue and margins. Cloud Growth & Backlog (Zacks)
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades — A wave of price‑target increases and buy/overweight reiterations (Goldman, JPMorgan, Canaccord, Citi, etc.) followed the quarter, adding institutional endorsement and likely supporting further buying. Price Target Raises (MarketScreener)
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder return signal — Alphabet announced a modestly higher quarterly dividend (up from $0.21 to $0.22), marking a small but visible move toward returning cash to investors.
• Neutral Sentiment: Product/monetization rollouts — Gemini is being integrated into millions of cars (upgrade from Assistant), and Waymo continues geographic expansion and commercial rides — both expand long‑term monetization pathways but have longer ROI timelines. Gemini in Cars (TechCrunch) Waymo Growth (Business Insider)
• Neutral Sentiment: Unusual options activity — Heavy call buying today suggests bullish positioning or hedged directional bets; this amplifies intraday volatility but not fundamentals.
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx concerns — Multiple write‑ups flagged rapid, ongoing AI/data‑center spend; some investors worry heavy capex could pressure near‑term margins despite revenue gains. CapEx Concerns (Seeking Alpha)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and governance risks — European scrutiny (Italy) and shareholder pushes for cloud/AI safeguards create political/regulatory overhang that could affect product deployments or compliance costs. Italy Asks EU Probe (Reuters)

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $385.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 13th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $390.65.

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.