Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is GMT Capital Corp’s 6th Largest Position

GMT Capital Corp reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 17.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 319,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 66,400 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 5.2% of GMT Capital Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. GMT Capital Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $100,290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in 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 purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $58,712,878,000 after purchasing an additional 953,790 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,151 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 71,841,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,543,838,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,013 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $18,093,665,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $376.78.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 191,966 shares of company stock valued at $16,963,968 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s drone-delivery unit Wing expanded into seven more U.S. cities with Walmart, reinforcing that its Other Bets can scale into real businesses and may be more valuable than the market gives them credit for.
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo launched a $29.99 monthly membership program, adding a recurring-revenue layer to its robotaxi business and highlighting rapid growth in paid rides, which investors may see as a meaningful long-term opportunity.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analyst and commentary pieces remain constructive on Alphabet’s AI, cloud, and search setup, with some calling it an AI powerhouse and lifting price targets, which supports the stock’s bullish narrative.
• Positive Sentiment: Google is also expanding its real-estate listings nationwide and continuing to deepen its AI infrastructure and chip strategy, reinforcing multiple growth avenues beyond search advertising.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google filed suit against an alleged Chinese cybercrime group that used AI to scam victims, a move that shows the company is actively defending its platforms, though the stock impact is likely limited unless the issue escalates.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet declined a $2 billion U.S. quantum-computing funding program, saying the terms could slow development; that may be viewed as a strategic choice rather than a major financial event.
• Neutral Sentiment: News that some billionaire investors sold Alphabet in Q1 while others bought more adds to the debate, but it does not change the underlying business fundamentals by itself.
• Negative Sentiment: Some recent coverage continues to focus on worries about rising capital expenditures and AI monetization, which can pressure sentiment if investors fear Alphabet’s AI spending will take longer to pay off.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI Overview feature has also faced renewed controversy, adding another small overhang around search quality and user trust.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $358.16 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $357.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $329.52. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $163.33 and a 12-month high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

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.