Hardy Reed LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG – Free Report) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,573 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.6% of Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Hardy Reed LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co raised its holdings in Alphabet by 38,409.2% during the 4th 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 during the period. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 850.3% in the fourth 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 purchasing an additional 15,830,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $450.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Roth Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.55.
Insider Activity
In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 451,945 shares of company stock valued at $12,382,714 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Alphabet stock opened at $343.54 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $352.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $339.57. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $197.46 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.20 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared 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 is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 4.42%.
Alphabet News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway significantly increased its Alphabet position. Berkshire owned approximately 106 million shares worth $37.9 billion at the end of June after raising its stake by 83% during the second quarter. Alphabet is now Berkshire’s third-largest U.S.-listed equity holding, a notable vote of confidence under CEO Greg Abel. Berkshire Hathaway boosts Alphabet to a top three holding
- Positive Sentiment: Digital advertising estimates improved. July advertiser spending exceeded consensus expectations, supporting the outlook for Alphabet’s core advertising business. Alphabet also launched Gemini 3.7 Flash for coding and automated business workflows, potentially expanding monetization opportunities in enterprise AI. Internet stock advertising estimate revisions
- Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s SpaceX investment has become a major unrealized asset. The company disclosed that its roughly $900 million investment in SpaceX is now worth about $94 billion, highlighting the value of Alphabet’s venture portfolio, although the gain does not directly represent operating revenue or cash flow. Alphabet’s SpaceX bet grows 100-fold
- Positive Sentiment: Other institutions also added exposure. UniSuper increased its GOOG and GOOGL holdings, while several major funds reported purchases, reinforcing the perception that Alphabet remains attractively valued after its recent pullback.
- Neutral Sentiment: Google expanded Gemini access in schools and introduced tools allowing users to remove visible watermarks from AI-generated content while retaining invisible SynthID protections. These moves could improve adoption but have uncertain near-term financial effects. Google turns on Gemini AI for students
- Negative Sentiment: Gemini lost chatbot-visit share to ChatGPT in July. Although Gemini surpassed one billion monthly active users, its share of chatbot visits fell to 28.8%, raising concerns about competitive momentum in consumer AI.
- Negative Sentiment: AI investment is pressuring cash flow. Analysts continue to flag Alphabet’s very high data-center and chip spending, with some estimates showing weaker free-cash-flow generation than Microsoft and Meta in 2027.
- Negative Sentiment: Several funds reduced Alphabet positions. Barclays, Franklin Resources, Magellan and other managers reported trimming GOOG or GOOGL holdings, partially offsetting Berkshire’s large purchase. Alphabet also faces reputational risk from a reported Google-ad phishing scam and a law-firm investigation of investor claims.
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.
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