Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Aureus Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Aureus Asset Management cut its Alphabet stake by 15.5% in the first quarter, selling 46,211 shares. Alphabet remained the firm’s largest holding, valued at approximately $72.7 million.
• Alphabet reported a strong quarterly performance, with EPS of $9.11 and revenue of $119.8 billion, exceeding analyst estimates. Wall Street maintained a “Buy” consensus with an average price target of $419.86.
• Alphabet announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, while investors weigh its AI opportunities—including custom chips and cloud growth—against rising AI infrastructure costs and capital expenditures.

Aureus Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 15.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 252,727 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 46,211 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 4.8% of Aureus Asset Management LLC's portfolio, making the stock its largest holding. Aureus Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $72,674,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $356.13 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $187.82 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The firm's 50-day moving average is $357.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $339.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The business 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%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. CICC Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $393.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $419.86.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm's 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 sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

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.

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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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