Garde Capital Inc. Acquires 7,647 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Garde Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 16.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 53,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,647 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.0% of Garde Capital Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Garde Capital Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 8.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,240,469,000 after purchasing an additional 7,904,434 shares during the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 5.8% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,749,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,203 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,583,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,935,671,000 after purchasing an additional 223,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 28,625,464 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,971,769,000 after purchasing an additional 539,679 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Freedom Capital downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $430.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.00.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $365.76 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $350.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $327.07. 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 12 month low of $163.33 and a 12 month high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.81 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase 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 is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet signed a major cloud-computing agreement with SpaceX, with reports putting the deal at about $920 million per month for 32 months, which could provide a meaningful revenue stream and reinforce demand for Google Cloud. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s municipal-bond debut drew strong investor demand, suggesting institutions still view the company as a high-quality borrower with flexible financing options. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Some investors and analysts said the equity raise is a strategic move to accelerate AI infrastructure and may help Alphabet defend and expand its long-term leadership in search, cloud, and AI. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also appeared in commentary about AI-related partnerships, including potential indirect benefits from the SpaceX IPO and other cloud collaborations, but these are mostly longer-term strategic themes rather than immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street coverage focused heavily on Alphabet’s expanding capital expenditures, with some commentators warning that the AI buildout may be getting too expensive and could pressure free cash flow. Article Title

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.