Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Increased by First Trust Advisors LP

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP increased its Alphabet stake by 1% in the first quarter, adding 46,504 shares to own 4.90 million shares valued at approximately $1.41 billion. Institutional investors collectively own 40.03% of Alphabet.
• Alphabet reported quarterly earnings of $9.11 per share and revenue of $119.8 billion, exceeding analyst expectations. Analysts maintain a generally bullish outlook, with a consensus “Buy” rating and a $419.86 price target.
• Alphabet declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, equivalent to $0.88 annually and a 0.2% yield, while significant AI infrastructure spending and recent insider selling remain potential investor concerns.

First Trust Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.0% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,897,499 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 46,504 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.0% of First Trust Advisors LP's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,408,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were 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. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $356.13 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $187.82 and a 52-week 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 has a market cap of $4.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $339.30.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) are increasingly viewed as credible alternatives to Nvidia chips. That could reduce Google’s dependence on external suppliers and create a potential external chip-revenue opportunity. Alphabet and Amazon custom AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Alphabet’s record quarter, strong Google Cloud growth, Gemini adoption and enterprise AI demand. Analysts and value-focused investors continue to view GOOGL as comparatively inexpensive among large technology and AI companies. Alphabet AI investment and valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Google is reportedly supporting a $15 billion Anthropic data-center project with chips and financial guarantees, while Oracle is expanding its partnership to bring Gemini models to enterprise applications. These initiatives could drive Google Cloud demand and strengthen Alphabet’s AI ecosystem. Anthropic data center backed by Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s reported quarterly earnings and revenue beat consensus estimates by wide margins, supporting the fundamental case, although investors remain focused on whether AI growth will translate into sufficient cash returns.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet withdrew its Google Earth AI image-generation feature only one day after launch following criticism that fabricated imagery could spread misinformation. The quick reversal limits immediate product risk but raises questions about AI governance and rollout discipline. Google Earth AI feature withdrawn
• Negative Sentiment: The AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Alphabet is targeting up to $205 billion in 2026 capital expenditures, while rising memory and infrastructure costs are pressuring cash flow and increasing future depreciation. AI buildout costs and cash flow
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales were small relative to the executives’ remaining holdings, but they provide a modest sentiment headwind. Separately, investor-law-firm investigations could create additional legal and reputational overhang. Alphabet director stock sale

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Truist Financial set a $420.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $419.86.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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