12,802 Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Acquired by J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc.

J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 12,802 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,008,000. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.9% of J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 price objective (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 1st. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $460.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Phillip Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Trading Down 5.0%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $349.68 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.00 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $4.24 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $367.66 and a 200 day simple moving average of $332.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and DeepMind announced a new AI research partnership with film studio A24, including about $75 million of investment, showing continued efforts to commercialize AI in creative tools. Google DeepMind signs AI research deal with film studio A24
• Positive Sentiment: Some analysts remain constructive on Alphabet’s AI spending, arguing that its cloud growth and AI investments could still be monetized over time. Morgan Stanley sees monetization potential in Google AI spending
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s cloud business continues to grow quickly and remains a key long-term driver, but heavy AI spending is also increasing near-term cost concerns. Is Alphabet the Best “Magnificent Seven” AI Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet stock is falling more than the broader market as investors worry about a high-profile AI talent exodus from Google DeepMind and Gemini leadership. Alphabet paces for worst day in a year on AI concerns after high-profile exits
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google DeepMind scientist John Jumper left for Anthropic added to fears that Alphabet is losing key AI researchers to competitors. Alphabet Is Now Cheaper Than What Berkshire Paid
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s recall of 3,871 robotaxis after a software glitch is another reminder that Alphabet’s autonomy business still faces execution risk. Waymo Just Recalled 3,800 Robotaxis. Is Google’s Self-Driving Dream Hitting a Wall?

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,132,701. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,604. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.