Stronghold Wealth Management L.L.C. Acquires Shares of 2,424 Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Stronghold Wealth Management L.L.C. acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 2,424 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $761,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Stronghold Wealth Management L.L.C.’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 76.2% in the second quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,865,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $330,886,000 after acquiring an additional 806,681 shares during the period. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $658,000. Financial Advisors Network Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.7% in the second quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 7,945 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% in the second quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 37,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,618,000 after acquiring an additional 3,616 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of GOOG opened at $384.83 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $340.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $323.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.35, a PEG ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.25. 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 1-year low of $163.33 and a 1-year high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during 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%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.81 earnings per share. Sell-side 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 paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.41%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have issued reports on GOOG. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Oppenheimer lifted 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. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $372.65.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are encouraged by Alphabet’s push to monetize AI in Search, including Gemini-powered ad formats and conversational ads that could expand search advertising revenue. Google Wants Ads to Talk Back in AI Search
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is also seeing bullish attention around its AI stack and cloud business, with coverage highlighting TPUs, AI compute services, and product momentum that could support long-term growth. Alphabet Ties AI Hardware Cloud And Ads As EU Scrutiny Rises
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst and market commentary remains constructive, with multiple reports pointing to strong prior earnings, elevated price targets, and continued investor interest in GOOG. GOOGL’s Innovative Ad Format to Boost Search Growth: What’s Ahead?
• Neutral Sentiment: News that a Google engineer was charged with insider trading on Polymarket is negative for headlines, but it appears to be an individual legal issue rather than a companywide operational problem. Google Employee Charged With Insider Trading on Polymarket
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitor and user-behavior articles suggest some users are testing alternatives like DuckDuckGo after Google’s AI Search overhaul, highlighting possible search-share pressure, though the long-term impact is still unclear. Some users may be giving Google’s AI search the bird, and DuckDuckGo is benefiting
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet faces mounting regulatory risk, including reports that the EU may issue a record fine over alleged search monopoly practices, which could weigh on sentiment. Market Chatter: Alphabet’s Google Nears Record European Union Fine Over Alleged Search Monopoly
• Negative Sentiment: Several stories also say Google’s AI search redesign is pushing some users and marketers to rethink reliance on Google, which raises concern that AI changes could disrupt the traditional search ad model. OpenAI is building a new kind of ad machine. Early data suggests Google should worry.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.