M.D. Sass LLC Has $3.76 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

M.D. Sass LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 49.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 10,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,492 shares during the period. M.D. Sass LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Loop Capital upped their target price on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Truist Financial set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $420.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’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 value of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet 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 transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Alphabet’s valuation and growth outlook. Citizens analyst Andrew Boone expects the stock to reach a new record high over the next 12 months, while other commentary highlights strong cloud momentum and argues that market concerns about Alphabet may be excessive. Wall Street analyst sets Google price target One Mag 7 Stock to Watch
• Positive Sentiment: Google- and Meta-backed Jio Platforms received approval for an Indian IPO. The listing could provide Alphabet with a potential valuation catalyst for its investment and increase visibility into the value of the stake. Jio Platforms IPO approval
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is balancing record cloud growth against historically high AI-related capital spending. Investors are focused on whether rising infrastructure costs will generate sufficient future revenue and margins compared with Amazon’s spending strategy. Alphabet and Amazon AI capital spending
• Neutral Sentiment: Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares for approximately $27,692, reducing her direct holdings by 0.43%. The relatively small transaction is unlikely to materially change the investment case, but it may attract limited attention amid the stock’s recent volatility. Alphabet insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh scrutiny of Google’s £260 million U.K. app-store settlement added to regulatory pressure. Reports also say Google changed European search rules to avoid a potentially much larger EU revenue penalty, though the concessions could weaken its search economics and competitive position. Google U.K. app-store settlement Google European search rules
• Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to debate whether Meta’s AI products could challenge Google Search and whether Alphabet’s AI investment will pressure returns before producing meaningful new revenue. Concerns about talent departures and the uncertain reception for future Gemini releases are also weighing on sentiment. Meta AI competition with Google Search

Alphabet Trading Down 2.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $339.35 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.15 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.04, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $206.20 and a twelve month high of $408.61. 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 stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $349.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $342.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

About Alphabet

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.