Brookstone Capital Management Sells 12,191 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Brookstone Capital Management cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 236,530 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 12,191 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.8% of Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Brookstone Capital Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,017,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.4% during 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 during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in 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 buying an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Freedom Capital cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $390.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 151,523 shares of company stock valued at $4,863,526. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $343.71 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.16 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.22, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $169.94 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $368.94 and a 200 day moving average of $332.85.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for 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%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet was announced as the replacement for Verizon in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a high-profile index inclusion that can boost demand from index funds and improve investor sentiment. Alphabet replacing Verizon in Dow Jones Industrial Average index
• Positive Sentiment: Google Finance launched a new app and expanded portfolio-tracking tools, adding another product update that could support engagement across Google’s financial services ecosystem. Google Finance Debuts App and Investment Tracking Capabilities
• Neutral Sentiment: Several reports noted Alphabet remains a favored large-cap tech name among some investors and that the stock had previously benefited from the Dow inclusion announcement.
• Negative Sentiment: News that multiple AI researchers are leaving Google for rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI is pressuring sentiment, as investors worry about talent retention and competitive pressure in AI. Alphabet Shares Fall After Report on Further AI Talent Departures
• Negative Sentiment: Additional coverage of Google’s “brain drain” and reports that Gemini 3.5 Pro was delayed to July add to concerns that Alphabet may be losing ground in the AI race. Google delays Gemini 3.5 Pro launch to July as it tweaks its new frontier AI model
• Negative Sentiment: The broader selloff also reflects anxiety around AI execution and competition, with investors reacting to talent departures and delays rather than the company’s longer-term fundamentals.

Alphabet 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.