Platform Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 82,118 Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Platform Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 82,118 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $25,769,000. Alphabet makes up about 6.9% of Platform Wealth Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after buying an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 8.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after buying an additional 7,904,434 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,093,665,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.8% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,749,864,000 after buying an additional 2,209,203 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,583,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,935,671,000 after buying an additional 223,743 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $353.32 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.28 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.95, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.33 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $355.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $328.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company’s revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.81 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 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%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google is expanding Gemini with new tools aimed at small businesses, which could help broaden adoption and monetize AI services. Google Debuts Gemini Features Geared to Small Businesses
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s support for Anthropic’s $35 billion AI infrastructure financing deal reinforces its central role in AI buildout and could boost cloud demand. Google Backs $35 Billion Anthropic AI Infrastructure Financing Deal
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Gemini monthly users have doubled highlight strong product momentum and strengthen the long-term AI growth story. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Reports Doubling of Gemini App Monthly Users to 900 Million
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s reported $920 million-per-month AI compute deal with SpaceX may support future growth, but it also signals rising infrastructure spending and AI competition costs. Google’s $920 Million-a-Month Deal Could Supercharge the SpaceX IPO
• Negative Sentiment: A fire at a third-party data center caused intermittent Google Cloud disruptions in India, which could raise reliability concerns for some customers. Fire at third-party facility disrupts Google Cloud network traffic in India
• Negative Sentiment: A California judge denied Google’s request for a new trial in the youth social media addiction case, leaving legal liability concerns in place. Meta and Google denied new trial after landmark verdict in youth social media addiction case

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% 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 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, Freedom Capital lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $376.78.

Alphabet Company 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.