Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC

Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 32.2% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 85,673 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 40,646 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 3.8% of Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Wellington Shields Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $30,271,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of 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 raised its position in Alphabet by 28,482.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,174,429,000 after buying an additional 111,699,704 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 850.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,551,938,000 after acquiring an additional 15,830,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $132,114,125,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 451,945 shares of company stock valued at $12,382,714 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several research reports. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 target price (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $415.55.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google introduced flexible billing and resource-allocation tools for Gemini Enterprise and Google Antigravity, helping businesses manage unpredictable AI spending. The initiative could reduce a key barrier to enterprise AI adoption and support Google Cloud demand. Google Launches Flexible Billing To Manage Exploding AI Costs
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet expanded Gemini Enterprise with specialized solutions for financial-services and legal customers, including industry-specific agents, data connectors and workflow tools. The launches strengthen Google Cloud’s effort to monetize agentic AI and compete with Microsoft and Anthropic. Google Cloud Launches Gemini Enterprise for Financial Services
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo plans to test autonomous vehicles in Munich and launch driverless rides in Germany in 2027. The expansion provides a long-term growth catalyst for Alphabet’s autonomous-driving investment, although commercialization remains years away. Waymo to launch driverless rides in Germany in 2027
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly increased its Alphabet position by 83% to roughly $37.8 billion, making it one of Berkshire’s largest holdings. The high-profile purchase reinforces investor confidence in Alphabet’s search, cloud and AI businesses. Berkshire Hathaway increases Alphabet stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon are reportedly negotiating with China’s Moonshot AI to host its Kimi K3 model, with Moonshot seeking as much as 30% of related revenue. Hosting could create cloud revenue, but the proposed revenue share and U.S.-China technology restrictions may limit the benefit. China’s Moonshot in talks over K3 revenue sharing
• Negative Sentiment: A child-safety settlement involving Meta has renewed scrutiny of how YouTube protects minors. Investors are concerned that similar requirements could expose Alphabet to substantial compliance costs or financial liabilities.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader weakness in the Nasdaq-100 and major technology stocks added selling pressure, with Alphabet identified as a significant contributor to the index’s decline. Rising server prices for systems using Nvidia AI chips could also increase Alphabet’s already heavy infrastructure spending.
• Negative Sentiment: Google’s decision to move its AI-responsibility team outside DeepMind has prompted concerns about researcher independence and the company’s ability to identify risks in increasingly capable models. Calls for tighter U.S.-China AI rules add another layer of regulatory uncertainty.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

GOOG stock opened at $339.10 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $348.88 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $339.85. The company has a market cap of $4.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $206.39 and a twelve month high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.42%.

Alphabet 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.