Clark Asset Management LLC Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Clark Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 17.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,992 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,066 shares during the period. Clark Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,014,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its stake in Alphabet by 38,409.2% during the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,643,262,000 after acquiring an additional 179,369,280 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,174,429,000 after acquiring an additional 111,699,704 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. grew its position in Alphabet by 850.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,551,938,000 after acquiring an additional 15,830,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 worth $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Raymond James Financial restated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Phillip Securities downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $435.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.78.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet will replace Verizon in the Dow, a move that can trigger index-related buying and highlights the company’s importance in large-cap tech. WSJ article
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to point to Alphabet’s strong AI and cloud position, including rapid Google Cloud growth and rising enterprise demand for AI infrastructure. Zacks article
• Neutral Sentiment: YouTube settled a youth mental health lawsuit ahead of a broader social media trial, removing one legal overhang but not changing the core investment story. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports say key Gemini researchers are leaving Google for rivals like Anthropic, reinforcing investor concerns about AI talent retention. TechCrunch article
• Negative Sentiment: Google reportedly delayed the Gemini 3.5 Pro release to July, which may raise questions about execution in the AI race. TipRanks article
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also points to broader pressure on Alphabet from an AI selloff and worries that Google’s core search dominance could face more competition in the AI era. CNBC article

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $344.91 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The company has a market cap of $4.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $366.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $331.78. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $168.56 and a 1-year high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.81 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 6.71%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.