2,780 Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Purchased by WMS Group LLC

WMS Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,780 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $872,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.1% of WMS Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,712,878,000 after purchasing an additional 953,790 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $35,174,429,000 after purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,569,189,000 after purchasing an additional 1,073,151 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 71,841,419 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,543,838,000 after purchasing an additional 1,132,013 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to draw bullish attention as investors highlight accelerating Google Cloud growth, improving margins, and a very large backlog that suggests strong demand for AI and cloud services. Alphabet: Google Cloud Is Outperforming Azure And AWS; $462 Billion Backlog Requires More AI Investments
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly increased its Alphabet stake significantly, which is being read as a strong vote of confidence in GOOG’s long-term outlook. Berkshire Hathaway Expands Alphabet (GOOGL) Stake to 58M Shares as Ackman Exits
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s major AI and data-center investments, including a reported $1.5 billion Alabama campus expansion and broader capex plans, are supporting the view that the company is buying future growth. Alphabet (GOOGL) Announces $1.5 Billion Investment Across 2026 And 2027 To Expand Its Alabama Data Center Campus

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. TD Cowen upped their target price on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $376.78.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $367.46 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $163.33 and a 1 year high of $404.47. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $364.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $331.07. The company has a market capitalization of $4.45 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.03, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm 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 revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.81 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 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.