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

Smith Group Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 262,620 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 16,067 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.9% of Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Smith Group Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $75,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its stake in Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.2% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank lifted 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 purchasing an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.3%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $357.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $194.33 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $356.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $340.31.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is seeking up to $25 billion through a 10-part U.S. bond offering, with reports indicating orders could exceed $115 billion. The strong demand suggests investors and lenders remain confident in Alphabet’s credit profile, while the funds will support AI data centers, computing capacity and other corporate needs. Alphabet seeks up to $25 billion from its latest bond sale
• Positive Sentiment: AI demand continues to create growth opportunities for Google Cloud. AI lab Mirendil signed a multiyear agreement worth more than $100 million for Google Cloud computing capacity, reinforcing demand for Alphabet’s infrastructure and services. Mirendil signs Google Cloud deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Demis Hassabis is moving from day-to-day leadership of Google DeepMind to become Alphabet’s chief scientist and chair of DeepMind, with a focus on long-term research, artificial general intelligence and Isomorphic Labs. Management says the change is intended to improve coordination between research and commercialization. Demis Hassabis new role
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Hassabis’ reduced operating role, combined with the departure of longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean and other senior researchers, could weaken Alphabet’s ability to retain talent and compete in frontier AI. The leadership changes followed concerns about delays in Google’s next-generation Gemini products. Google AI leadership departures
• Negative Sentiment: The debt offering highlights the scale of Alphabet’s AI spending. Although borrowing can preserve cash for operations, it increases interest obligations and intensifies scrutiny over whether future AI revenue will justify the substantial capital investment. Alphabet bond offering and AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned $15 billion India data-center project faces opposition over potential effects on water supplies and wildlife, creating possible permitting, reputational and construction risks. Google India data center environmental concerns

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Truist Financial set a $420.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

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.