HighTower Advisors LLC Sells 116,114 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,643,071 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 116,114 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.3% of HighTower Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th largest holding. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,301,924,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,534,239,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,546,413,000 after purchasing an additional 13,004,828 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28,950.0% in the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,671,986,000 after buying an additional 9,259,940 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $342.00 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $205.65 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. 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 firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $350.61 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.58.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 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. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway increased its Alphabet stake by 83% to approximately $37.8 billion, providing a significant endorsement from a major long-term investor and reinforcing confidence in Alphabet’s search, cloud and AI businesses. Berkshire Boosts Its Bet: This AI Hyperscaler Is Now a Top-3 Holding
• Positive Sentiment: Google is expanding Gemini Enterprise into regulated industries, including legal and financial services, creating potential for higher-value recurring cloud and AI revenue as enterprises adopt specialized agents. What Alphabet’s Gemini Enterprise Push Into Regulated Industries Means For Shareholders
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet-owned Waymo plans to enter Germany with driverless rides in 2027, offering a potential long-term growth avenue and demonstrating progress toward international commercialization. Waymo to launch driverless rides in Germany in 2027
• Neutral Sentiment: Google introduced new Gemini Live voice capabilities intended to let users complete multiple tasks without choosing among separate AI tools. The feature may improve engagement, although its near-term financial impact is unclear. Google’s Gemini has a branding problem
• Negative Sentiment: A settlement involving Meta and U.S. state attorneys general has renewed scrutiny of how YouTube protects children and teenagers. Investors are concerned that similar requirements could impose substantial compliance costs or financial obligations on Alphabet. Why is Alphabet stock down today?
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet moved its AI-responsibility team out of DeepMind, prompting concerns among researchers about independence and the team’s ability to identify risks in new models. The development adds governance and reputational uncertainty to the company’s aggressive AI rollout. Google Moves AI-Responsibility Team Out of DeepMind Lab
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Nvidia-based AI server prices may rise by more than 15% could increase Alphabet’s infrastructure costs, adding pressure to margins as the company continues heavy AI capital spending. Alphabet Spends About 60 Cents of Every Technical Infrastructure Dollar on Servers

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 451,945 shares of company stock worth $12,382,714 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Susquehanna reaffirmed a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. DZ Bank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Freedom Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $420.19.

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.