Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 100,825 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,778 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.4% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co lifted 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 purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway sharply increased its Alphabet position. Berkshire owned approximately 106 million shares worth $37.9 billion at the end of June after raising its stake by 83% in the second quarter. Alphabet is now Berkshire’s third-largest U.S.-listed equity holding, a high-profile vote of confidence under CEO Greg Abel. Berkshire Hathaway boosts Alphabet to a top three holding
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s SpaceX investment has become exceptionally valuable. The company disclosed that its roughly $900 million investment in SpaceX in 2015 was worth about $94 billion at the end of June. The gain highlights Alphabet’s ability to generate returns from strategic investments, although it is not recurring operating revenue. Alphabet’s SpaceX bet grows 100-fold over a decade
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched Gemini 3.7 Flash for coding and automated business workflows. The new model could strengthen Alphabet’s position in enterprise AI and agent-based software, although investors are still awaiting details on the flagship Gemini Pro release. Google unveils Gemini 3.7 Flash AI model
• Neutral Sentiment: Google will let users remove visible watermarks from AI-generated images, videos and songs while retaining invisible SynthID and C2PA metadata. The policy may improve user flexibility but could raise questions about content provenance and misuse. Google will now allow users to remove visible watermark from its AI generations
• Negative Sentiment: AI investment and competitive pressures remain overhangs. Reports cite rising AI capital expenditures and cash-flow pressure, while Nvidia’s large financing arrangement could challenge Alphabet’s custom-chip strategy. Traders also reduced expectations for an imminent Gemini Pro launch. Alphabet’s stock slips as Nvidia financing deal threatens custom chips
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research downgraded Alphabet from “strong buy” to “hold,” reflecting valuation and spending concerns. In addition, Pomerantz announced an investigation into potential investor claims, creating a modest legal-risk overhang. GOOGL Down 19% From 52-Week High

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 451,945 shares of company stock worth $12,382,714. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $345.90 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.37, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. The company’s fifty day moving average is $353.66 and its two-hundred day moving average is $341.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $196.60 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 price target (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. KeyCorp raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

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.