Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Holdings Cut by Portfolio Design Labs LLC

Portfolio Design Labs LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 67,381 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,626 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.9% of Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,808,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its stake in shares of 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 valued at $5,643,262,000 after buying an additional 179,369,280 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28,482.8% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its stake 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 worth $5,551,938,000 after buying an additional 15,830,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google employees are reportedly testing Gemini 3.8 Flash, suggesting a new model could launch soon and strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position in generative AI. The company also hired AI researcher Barret Zoph as a Google DeepMind research vice president. Google employees are already testing the next Gemini Flash AI model
• Positive Sentiment: Wolfe Research named Alphabet a top 2027 stock pick and set a $460 target, citing accelerating Google Cloud growth and expanding AI monetization opportunities. Analysts also highlighted strong advertising performance, including reported 14.4% second-quarter ad-revenue growth. Alphabet is a top 2027 stock pick
• Positive Sentiment: Google expanded AI Mode with tools to track flight prices and help users book hotels, potentially increasing commercial activity and supporting future search-related revenue. Google’s AI Mode can now track flight prices, help book hotels, and more
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet joined more than 100 technology companies in calling for coordinated defenses against rogue-AI cyber threats. The move may support responsible-AI efforts but also underscores growing scrutiny of the sector. Companies call for action to defend against rogue AI
• Negative Sentiment: The FTC is reportedly in the final stages of investigating whether YouTube violated consumer-protection laws by suspending users’ accounts and may prepare a lawsuit. Potential penalties, compliance costs and restrictions on YouTube’s policies are weighing on sentiment. US FTC probes YouTube over social media policies
• Negative Sentiment: Google agreed to pay approximately $353 million to settle a U.K. class-action lawsuit brought by app developers over fees, creating a direct financial charge and potentially raising concerns about additional platform-related claims. Google agrees to settle UK app developers’ lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Law firms including Pomerantz and Frank R. Cruz announced investigations into possible securities-law violations. These notices are typically investor-solicitation announcements rather than new findings, but they add to the negative legal-news flow. Pomerantz investor alert

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Roth Capital increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $435.00 to $440.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Freedom Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. DZ Bank upgraded Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating 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 report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.55.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total transaction of $27,337.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,305,738.46. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 451,843 shares of company stock valued at $12,343,852 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.4%

Alphabet stock opened at $337.71 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $206.96 and a 12-month high of $404.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.13 trillion, a PE ratio of 16.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $348.28 and a 200-day simple moving average of $339.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $6.24. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 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 yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

About Alphabet

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.