Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Purchased by Natural Investments LLC

Key Points

• Natural Investments LLC increased its Alphabet stake by 5.3% in the second quarter to 37,638 shares valued at approximately $13.45 million. Other major institutional investors also raised their positions, with institutions collectively owning 40.03% of Alphabet.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $420.19. Wells Fargo and RBC set targets of $411 and $425, respectively, although some analysts recently downgraded the stock to “Hold.”
• Alphabet reported quarterly earnings of $9.11 per share and revenue of $119.8 billion, surpassing expectations. The company also paid a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, while rising AI infrastructure costs, reduced buybacks and legal investigations remain potential risks.

Natural Investments LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 37,638 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 1,897 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 3.1% of Natural Investments LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Natural Investments LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,450,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Diamant Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 28,950.0% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,671,986,000 after purchasing an additional 9,259,940 shares during the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 90.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,040,373 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,900,078,000 after purchasing an additional 8,112,680 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 127.9% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 11,677,886 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,655,178,000 after purchasing an additional 6,554,842 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 45.8% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 13,737,125 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,299,721,000 after purchasing an additional 4,313,745 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.7% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 31,745,979 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,128,850,000 after buying an additional 3,574,810 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $420.19.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $349.39 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.27 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.55, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's fifty day moving average is $346.41 and its 200 day moving average is $344.15. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $235.84 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th were given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud remains a major growth catalyst. Alphabet’s cloud backlog reportedly reached $514 billion after second-quarter revenue growth of 82%, reinforcing expectations that Cloud could become a larger long-term earnings driver alongside Search. Alphabet cloud backlog article
• Positive Sentiment: AI concerns are benefiting Alphabet relative to some peers. Alphabet and Meta have attracted investor interest even as concerns about excessive frontier-model spending weigh on parts of the technology sector. A possible slowdown could favor established platforms with strong cash flows, distribution and proprietary infrastructure. Google and Meta AI concerns article
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo is expanding commercially. Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit has begun offering robotaxi rides to the general public in Las Vegas, its first Nevada market, expanding a potential future growth business. Waymo Las Vegas article
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is broadening its AI ecosystem. Giving engineers access to Anthropic’s Claude may improve coding productivity and reflects Alphabet’s investment exposure to Anthropic, although Claude also competes with Google’s own AI models. Google Claude access article
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical momentum is improving. Stockton believes Alphabet may be emerging from its multi-month correction, while recent commentary highlights its cloud position, YouTube scale and custom AI chips as potential competitive advantages.
• Negative Sentiment: AI infrastructure spending is pressuring capital returns. Reports say Alphabet has halted buybacks, its share count is rising and debt has increased as it funds data centers, energy contracts and AI capacity. Local opposition to new data centers could also raise costs or delay projects. Big Tech buybacks article
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment faces legal overhang. Multiple law firms are publicizing securities-fraud investigations involving Alphabet. These announcements do not establish wrongdoing but could add volatility and potential litigation risk. Alphabet securities investigation article

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $2,232,808.20. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.71, for a total transaction of $27,692.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,995 shares in the company, valued at $6,414,801.45. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 450,875 shares of company stock valued at $11,984,482. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology and holding company founded in 2015 through a restructuring of Google. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and operates globally, serving consumers, businesses, advertisers and developers across numerous countries and regions.

Alphabet's largest business is Google Services, which includes Google Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and hardware products such as Pixel devices. These products support activities including internet search, digital content distribution, mobile computing, online communications and advertising.

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