The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Buys 141,923 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,123,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 141,923 shares during the quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,103,632,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Readystate Asset Management LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $45,352,000. BlackRock Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 369,922,502 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $130,704,718,000 after purchasing an additional 5,164,200 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $58,712,878,000 after buying an additional 953,790 shares during the last quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its stake in Alphabet by 38,409.2% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after buying an additional 179,369,280 shares during the last quarter. Finally, J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google completed its acquisition of AI-agent startup Mechanize in a deal reportedly valued at more than $1.5 billion. Mechanize’s former CEO and other employees have joined Google, strengthening Alphabet’s capabilities in autonomous AI agents. Google completes its deal for AI startup Mechanize
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is broadening Gemini’s commercial reach. Google Cloud launched Gemini Enterprise for Financial Services in preview, with Deutsche Bank as an early proving ground, while a new Accenture partnership will train up to 1,000 engineers to implement Gemini applications for enterprise customers. Google Cloud launches AI agents for banking
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s AI tools are gaining traction in media and creative software. Avid Technology said it is working with Google to accelerate creative workflows, while Gemini is increasingly being positioned as a competitor to Adobe’s tools. Google helps Avid accelerate the creative process with AI
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned €13 billion Finland AI infrastructure investment, supported by a long-term nuclear power agreement, could provide more predictable energy costs for data centers and strengthen Google Cloud and TPU capacity. Analysts also see TPU sales as a potential source of additional Cloud growth. Alphabet’s TPU sales could drive Google Cloud upside
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet faces a continuing securities-fraud investigation by the Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz. The announcement is an investor solicitation and does not establish wrongdoing, but it could add headline and litigation risk. Securities fraud investigation into Alphabet continues
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about Alphabet’s roughly $200 billion AI capital-spending plans, potential electricity and data-center costs, and competition from OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta. A proposed U.S. bill could also require large data-center operators such as Alphabet to absorb more power-infrastructure costs.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Freedom Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. KeyCorp set a $445.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.55.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $335.45 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.10 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.85, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a 50 day moving average of $344.76 and a 200-day moving average of $341.64. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $236.68 and a 12-month high of $404.47.

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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $2,232,808.20. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known as the parent company of Google. It was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring intended to separate Google’s core internet businesses from a collection of other ventures. Google remains Alphabet’s largest business and serves users, advertisers, businesses and developers worldwide.

Google’s principal products and services include its internet search engine, online advertising platforms, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Photos.