Wellington Grp LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Wellington Grp LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.8% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 15,911 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,551 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.4% of Wellington Grp LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position. Wellington Grp LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,622,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Denali Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.8% in the second quarter. Denali Advisors LLC now owns 105,988 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $37,449,000 after buying an additional 13,700 shares during the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 275,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $86,596,000 after acquiring an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 298.2% in the 2nd quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,854,000 after acquiring an additional 16,647 shares during the last quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 340,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $106,936,000 after purchasing an additional 3,378 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Montchanin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,075,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on GOOG. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $379.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial reissued a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $418.00 to $411.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. HSBC set a $515.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $415.55.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

Alphabet stock opened at $330.39 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $236.58 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. 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 firm has a 50 day moving average price of $345.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $341.69. The company has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.31 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet announced a partnership with Morgan State University to establish an AI campus, potentially expanding long-term talent development, research access and adoption of Google Cloud and Gemini. Alphabet Morgan State University AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched a dedicated Gemini app for Windows PCs, making its AI assistant more accessible and increasing the opportunity to drive usage across consumer devices and services. Gemini Windows app
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned €13 billion investment in Finnish AI infrastructure, alongside a long-term agreement to purchase power from a nuclear plant, could provide reliable, lower-cost electricity for data centers and support Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube. Google Finland AI infrastructure investment
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investment commentary continue to highlight Alphabet’s cloud growth, more than 20% revenue growth and strong recent earnings as evidence that the company can fund substantial AI investment while maintaining attractive profitability. Alphabet return on invested capital and cloud growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest was listed at zero shares, unchanged from the prior report, so the data provide no meaningful evidence of short-covering pressure or growing bearish positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on the cost of Alphabet’s AI buildout. Estimates that AI capital expenditures could reach roughly $200 billion have raised concerns about pressure on free cash flow, even though the stock’s valuation is viewed as reasonable. Alphabet AI capital expenditures
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s new Muse AI agent has renewed concerns that autonomous assistants could bypass traditional search pages and reduce Google search advertising opportunities. ARK Invest’s decision to sell approximately $28 million of Alphabet and buy Meta added to the competitive sentiment. Meta Muse competition
• Negative Sentiment: Potential regulation could increase infrastructure costs: proposed U.S. legislation would require large data-center users to pay the full incremental cost of power-grid upgrades, while Finnish officials have warned that Google’s expansion could strain electricity supply. Data Center Fair Share Act

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known as the parent company of Google. It was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring intended to separate Google’s core internet businesses from a collection of other ventures. Google remains Alphabet’s largest business and serves users, advertisers, businesses and developers worldwide.

Google’s principal products and services include its internet search engine, online advertising platforms, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Photos.