Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.0% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 187,859 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,895 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $53,889,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 397.6% in the 1st quarter. Pennington Partners & CO. LLC now owns 18,004 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,164,000 after acquiring an additional 14,386 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 20.1% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 2,418,059 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $693,644,000 after buying an additional 404,631 shares during the period. FCA Corp TX increased its position in Alphabet by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. FCA Corp TX now owns 20,043 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,750,000 after acquiring an additional 873 shares during the period. Klingman & Associates LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 1st quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 30,999 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,892,000 after acquiring an additional 388 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CLG LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. CLG LLC now owns 10,774 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,091,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $460.00 to $420.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed a “strong-buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Pivotal Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $418.00 to $411.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $410.09.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet posted a strong Q2 beat, with revenue and EPS coming in ahead of expectations, while Google Cloud revenue surged 82% and cloud margins improved sharply.
• Positive Sentiment: AI and product demand remain strong, with management saying AI usage is rising across Search, Cloud, and Gemini, supporting the long-term growth story.
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts reiterated bullish views or raised targets, and multiple commentary pieces argued the stock looks attractive after the pullback.
• Positive Sentiment: Verizon signed a deal worth more than $1 billion with Google for dark fiber connectivity, adding another sign of infrastructure demand tied to Alphabet’s data-center buildout. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo is reportedly considering ending its Uber partnership, which could affect how quickly Alphabet’s robotaxi business scales, but the direct financial impact is still unclear. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also disclosed a large SpaceX stake and saw some institutional holders trim positions, but these items are secondary to the main debate over AI spending and cash flow.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors were unnerved by Alphabet’s higher CapEx guidance and negative free cash flow, which raised concerns that AI spending may be outpacing near-term returns.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet was also hit by an EU antitrust fine of about $1 billion, adding another regulatory overhang. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Moody’s warned that the industry-wide AI buildout could threaten credit quality at Alphabet and other hyperscalers, reinforcing concerns about balance-sheet strain from heavy infrastructure investment. Article Title

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $319.09 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $188.70 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. The company has a market cap of $3.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 16.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $360.63 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $337.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The business’s revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 17.25 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.