Smith Group Asset Management LLC Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Smith Group Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 286,318 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,698 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 4.2% of Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $102,321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

GOOGL opened at $340.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. The company has a market capitalization of $4.17 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $352.30 and its 200-day moving average is $341.34. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $199.43 and a one year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $420.19.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst remains bullish: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its “buy” rating and set a $410 price target, implying substantial upside from the recent trading level. Analyst Scott Devitt also expects Alphabet to reach a new all-time high over the next 12 months. Rosenblatt rating
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure and cloud growth remain key positives: Google Cloud reportedly grew revenue 82% year over year in the latest quarter, while Alphabet’s partnership with Marvell expands access to custom AI accelerators, networking, storage, and memory technologies connected to Google’s TPU ecosystem. The deal could improve supply-chain flexibility and support long-term AI capacity. Marvell Google AI chip deal
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo is expanding commercially: Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit opened its lower-cost next-generation robotaxi to all riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, potentially improving the economics and scalability of the business. Waymo robotaxi expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Google introduced a “favorite source” feature that lets users prioritize publishers in Search, Discover, and Google News. The move may help preserve publisher relationships and search content quality, but its effect on revenue is uncertain. Google publisher feature
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is reportedly raising approximately $3.9 billion through its first Australian-dollar bond sale. The financing could support AI infrastructure investment, though it also underscores the capital intensity of the company’s expansion plans. Alphabet Australian dollar bond
• Negative Sentiment: Custom-chip competition is increasing: Marvell’s agreement and potential $12.2 billion warrant give Google an incentive to direct more purchases toward Marvell, raising concerns that Broadcom’s previously dominant role in Google’s TPU ecosystem could be diluted. While diversification may benefit Google over time, investors may view the deal as evidence that AI spending will require heavier investment and a more complex supply chain.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and execution risks remain: A court delayed approval of Google’s proposed purchase of Spirit Airlines’ internal data after union objections, while Micro1 is offering more than Google’s reported $10 million bid. Separately, the departure of longtime AI leader Jeff Dean and expectations that the flagship Gemini Pro release may be delayed into the autumn add to investor uncertainty. Spirit Airlines data sale delay
• Negative Sentiment: A law firm announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of Alphabet investors, creating an additional headline risk, although no allegations or financial impact were established in the announcement. Alphabet investor investigation

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 451,945 shares of company stock worth $12,382,714. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.