Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd

Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 635,538 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,061 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.1% of Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd's portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Clal Insurance Enterprises Holdings Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $182,755,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $277,696,000 after buying an additional 93,293 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $25,679,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269 shares during the period. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $28,902,000. Private Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,736,000 after acquiring an additional 2,678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 118,966 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,236,000 after acquiring an additional 17,415 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 6.7%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $356.13 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.82 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $357.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $339.30. 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 - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $117.07 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

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 Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. UBS Group cut their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a "market perform" rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Barclays restated an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 price target (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and set a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, CICC Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet 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.

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