Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Purchased by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 27.4% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,191,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 686,407 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 3.4% of William Blair Investment Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. William Blair Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,140,372,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $338.46 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $349.02 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.61. The company has a market cap of $4.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. 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 12-month low of $231.90 and a 12-month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given 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 is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.71, for a total value of $27,692.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,414,801.45. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544 over the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 target price (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $420.19.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue growth and expanding margins continue to support Alphabet’s AI investment strategy. Supporters argue that cloud growth—reportedly up 82% year over year—could eventually justify the company’s much higher spending. Google Cloud growth article
• Positive Sentiment: A federal judge rejected a forced breakup of Google’s ad-tech business, limiting the immediate structural risk to Alphabet. The company will instead face behavioral remedies, although the ad-network business recently contracted. Google ad-business ruling
• Positive Sentiment: New AI features in Gmail, Docs and Keep, along with continued Gemini development, could improve user engagement and strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position in generative AI. Rosenblatt also reaffirmed a buy rating with a $410 price target. Google AI product launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share on September 14 to shareholders of record on September 4, providing a modest income component but unlikely to materially change the investment case. Alphabet dividend article
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet raised 2026 capital-spending guidance to approximately $195 billion–$205 billion. Second-quarter free cash flow turned negative as capital expenditures reached $44.9 billion, raising concerns that AI infrastructure spending may take years to generate adequate returns. Alphabet cloud margins and AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also concerned about execution: Gemini 3.5 Pro reportedly remained delayed, while the company faces multiple securities-fraud investigations and continued scrutiny over its ad-tech practices. These issues add legal and competitive risk to an already expensive AI buildout. Gemini delay article

Alphabet 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.