Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Graphene Investments SAS

Graphene Investments SAS reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,700 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 5.7% of Graphene Investments SAS’s portfolio, making the stock its biggest holding. Graphene Investments SAS’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,512,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $86,000,000 after purchasing an additional 23,107 shares in the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $28,902,000. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,678 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. President Capital raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.1%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $326.56 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.82 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $361.53 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $338.98. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 16.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted 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 $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 17.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts continue to support Alphabet’s AI strategy, with several firms maintaining bullish ratings despite trimming price targets to reflect heavier capital expenditures. Investors appear to view the pullback as a buying opportunity. GOOG stock rebounds as Wall Street continues to back AI strategy despite PT cuts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s second-quarter performance exceeded expectations, including $119.8 billion in revenue and $9.11 in adjusted earnings per share versus consensus of $117.07 billion and $2.89, respectively. Search demand and Google Cloud growth remain key areas of momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports suggest Alphabet’s biggest AI concern—whether its investments can generate meaningful demand and returns—may be easing. Cloud growth, enterprise adoption and early AI monetization support the case for continued investment. Forget AI Capex Concerns – Buy Alphabet After Excellent Q2 Earnings
• Positive Sentiment: YouTube reached a multiyear agreement to include NBCUniversal’s Peacock content in YouTube Premium subscriptions, potentially strengthening the platform’s entertainment offering and subscriber value beginning in 2027. NBCUniversal and YouTube ink deal to embed Peacock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and investors remain divided over Alphabet’s raised 2026 capital-spending forecast of approximately $195 billion to $205 billion. The spending should support AI data centers, Cloud capacity and future growth, but returns will depend on sustained demand.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly spent about $44.9 billion on AI-related investment during the quarter, producing negative free cash flow for the first time as a public company. The deterioration has intensified concerns about spending discipline and the risk that AI returns take longer than expected. Google spent $490 million a day on AI
• Negative Sentiment: Broader technology stocks are not being rewarded for strong earnings, suggesting investors are scrutinizing valuations, capital intensity and future cash flow more closely. This limits the potential upside from Alphabet’s earnings beat.
• Negative Sentiment: A reported privacy issue involving publicly searchable Claude conversations and user-created files on Google search could create reputational or regulatory concerns, although the incident primarily involves Anthropic’s sharing controls. Claude shared chats and Artifacts found on Google

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock worth $7,672,279 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.