Conning Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Conning Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,848 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,458 shares during the quarter. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,411,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $361.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $347.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $325.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.00 and a 12 month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.41%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s $10 billion investment signals strong outside confidence in Alphabet’s AI and cloud strategy. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and commentators continue to argue that Alphabet remains a high-margin cash generator with attractive long-term earnings power. Google: AI Skeptics Proven Wrong as Business Booms
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of Alphabet’s expanding AI coding, hardware, and device strategy highlights broader growth opportunities, but it is not the main driver of today’s move. Microsoft and Google are late to AI coding, but ‘absolutely critical’ they compete for growth
• Negative Sentiment: The proposed $80 billion stock sale raises dilution concerns and underscores how expensive Alphabet’s AI race has become. Exclusive: EU cloud rules to curb Amazon, Google access to strategic tenders, draft document shows
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that EU cloud rules could restrict Google’s access to strategic government tenders add a regulatory overhang for the cloud business. Alphabet to raise $80 billion in equity capital for AI spending

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, DA Davidson boosted their price target on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Two equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.04.

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.