Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Increased by Handelsbanken Fonder AB

Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.5% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,949,453 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 72,119 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 3.0% of Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,054,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY grew its position in Alphabet by 17.6% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $344.17 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $352.87 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $341.28. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $196.60 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The firm has a market cap of $4.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. 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 payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway sharply increased its Alphabet position. Berkshire disclosed an 83% second-quarter increase, adding approximately 48 million shares and bringing its holding to nearly 106 million shares valued at about $37 billion. Warren Buffett said he initiated the investment, reinforcing the view that Alphabet offers strong cash generation, attractive valuation and durable growth. Berkshire Just Made a Huge Alphabet Bet—Should You Follow?
• Positive Sentiment: Other prominent investors also reported Alphabet purchases. Filings indicated buying by investors including David Tepper, Stanley Druckenmiller and Seth Klarman, adding to the institutional endorsement of GOOGL’s AI, cloud and advertising outlook. Billionaires Loading Into Alphabet Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is expanding its AI capabilities. Google agreed to pay $10 million for anonymized Spirit Airlines business data and software for product development and AI training, while some employees from workflow-automation startup Relay are joining Google’s Chrome team. These moves support continued investment in AI products, though the direct financial impact is likely limited. Google to Buy Spirit Airlines Business Data
• Neutral Sentiment: AI spending is creating both opportunity and financing pressure. Alphabet was among several companies issuing large volumes of AI-related debt, potentially funding cloud and data-center expansion but increasing interest costs and balance-sheet risk. Reports that Alphabet is considering an Australian-dollar bond could reinforce that concern. AI’s Borrowing Binge
• Negative Sentiment: Pomerantz LLP announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of Alphabet investors. The release provided few details, and an investigation does not establish wrongdoing, but the announcement could create short-term legal and reputational pressure. Pomerantz Investor Alert

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 451,945 shares of company stock worth $12,382,714. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.