Gambit Capital Management LLC Purchases Shares of 4,644 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Gambit Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm purchased 4,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,454,000. Alphabet accounts for 1.0% of Gambit Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,652,000 after acquiring an additional 3,740 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 1,666,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $405,131,000 after acquiring an additional 60,831 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet secured a major cloud deal with SpaceX, adding a high-profile customer and boosting the investment case for its AI infrastructure business. SpaceX signs cloud deal with Google
• Positive Sentiment: New Street Research raised its price target on Alphabet to $455 and reiterated a buy rating, signaling continued Wall Street confidence. MarketScreener
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports said Google’s AI search and chatbot products faced criticism after an audit found many chatbot responses on elections were flawed, which may keep pressure on Alphabet’s AI credibility. Over 90% of AI chatbot answers about midterm elections are flawed, stunning analysis shows
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s large equity raise and higher AI capex guidance are still weighing on sentiment because investors are questioning how quickly those investments will pay off. Alphabet is seeking fresh capital as stock’s 4-week losing streak tests investor appetite
• Negative Sentiment: Google also faces regulatory pressure in the UK over publisher-content rules in AI search, adding another policy risk for the business. Google search facing UK ‘conduct requirement’

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Arete Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital boosted their target price on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, President Capital boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $368.53 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $352.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $327.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $162.00 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 an increase 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%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 6.41%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.