Weaver Capital Management LLC Purchases 4,344 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 45.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,344 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.9% of Weaver Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Weaver Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,381,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Baker Ellis Asset Management LLC now owns 31,026 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,711,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Sutton Place Investors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the fourth quarter. Sutton Place Investors LLC now owns 5,461 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,709,000 after acquiring an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% in the fourth quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC now owns 78,749 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,648,000 after acquiring an additional 7,385 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 6,827 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,137,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Provident Living Financial Services Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $2,013,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $337.42 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 1.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.10 and a 52 week high of $349.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $307.09 and a 200-day moving average of $302.81.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 11.53 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Google is in talks with Marvell to develop two new AI chips (a memory‑processing unit and an inference TPU) reinforce Alphabet’s push to control AI infrastructure and diversify suppliers — a structural positive for cloud/AI margins and capacity. Marvell in talks with Google (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Google is expanding its TPU push as demand for inference accelerates (Anthropic/Meta adoption cited) — supports faster Google Cloud growth and higher infrastructure monetization. Google expands TPU push (Yahoo)
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple buy‑side moves and price‑target raises (Cantor Fitzgerald to $395; KeyCorp to $380; other firms reiterating Top‑Pick calls) lift sentiment and imply upside from current levels. Cantor Fitzgerald raises PT (MarketScreener) KeyCorp/analyst note (Benzinga)
• Positive Sentiment: Macro risk‑on flows after a U.S.–Iran ceasefire boosted big tech and Bitcoin, helping institutional inflows into mega‑cap tech stocks including Alphabet. That supports demand into Cloud/AI names ahead of conferences and earnings. Risk‑on rally lifts Big Tech (MarketBeat)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary on hyperscalers and quantum/AI positioning highlights competitive dynamics (Microsoft, IBM, Nvidia noted) — useful context but not an immediate unique catalyst for Alphabet. Zacks analyst blog
• Negative Sentiment: Industry data (eMarketer) projects Meta overtaking Google in global and U.S. digital ad revenue this year — a potential structural headwind for Alphabet’s core ad business and near‑term growth expectations. Meta to surpass Google in ad revenue (Yahoo)
• Negative Sentiment: Short‑term weakness and a slightly larger intraday dip vs. the market reflect profit‑taking after a strong April run; several articles note GOOGL trading off on rotation despite the positive infra/AI story. Why GOOGL dipped (Zacks)

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total value of $348,232.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 3,581 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. This trade represents a 22.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,069,794 shares of company stock worth $104,854,147 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 10th. Phillip Securities raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $368.94.

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.