Wealth Effects LLC Purchases 18,861 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Wealth Effects LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 291.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,861 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.4% of Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Wealth Effects LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,950,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,712,878,000 after purchasing an additional 953,790 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in Alphabet by 38,409.2% during the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,643,262,000 after buying an additional 179,369,280 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP boosted its stake in Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,174,429,000 after buying an additional 111,699,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after buying an additional 1,073,151 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and set a $379.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.55.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $341.75 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $202.13 and a one year high of $404.47. 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’s 50-day moving average is $350.34 and its 200-day moving average is $339.73. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.31 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors 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 yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 4.42%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure expansion: Alphabet’s expanded custom-silicon relationship with Marvell covers components connected to Google’s TPU ecosystem, including inference accelerators, networking, storage, and memory products. The agreement gives Alphabet more supply-chain flexibility and supports continued AI capacity growth, although it may increase dependence on multiple chip partners. Jensen Huang Thinks This Chip Stock Could Hit $1 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo growth: Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit received approval to operate thousands of robotaxis in Nevada and has expanded its lower-cost next-generation vehicles to riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Waymo also introduced a custom AI chip designed to reduce reliance on Nvidia and AMD, potentially improving long-term economics. Robotaxi Permits in Nevada
• Positive Sentiment: Investor and analyst support: Berkshire Hathaway significantly increased its Alphabet position, reinforcing the view that the company fits a value-oriented investment strategy. Rosenblatt initiated coverage with a “Buy” rating, while analysts continue to point to resilient Search, fast-growing Cloud, and strong earnings momentum. Berkshire’s Alphabet Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: DeepMind leadership transition: Nobel Prize-winning co-founder Demis Hassabis is moving from day-to-day management to chairman and chief scientist roles, while Koray Kavukcuoglu will oversee operations. The change could improve Alphabet-wide AI coordination, but investors may monitor execution and retention risks. DeepMind Leadership Change
• Negative Sentiment: Firebase enforcement risk: Indian authorities directed Google to remove hundreds of Firebase accounts allegedly used in bank impersonation scams. The action could increase compliance costs and renew concerns about misuse of Alphabet’s platforms. India Orders Removal of Firebase Accounts

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 451,945 shares of company stock worth $12,382,714 over the last three months. Company 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.