Bollard Group LLC Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Bollard Group increased its Alphabet position by 9.3% in the first quarter, bringing its holdings to 37,402 shares valued at approximately $10.8 million. Institutional investors collectively own about 40% of Alphabet’s stock.
• Alphabet reported quarterly earnings of $9.11 per share, far above the $2.89 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $119.8 billion versus expectations of $117.07 billion. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $419.86.
• Alphabet shares opened at $373.51 after rising 4.9%; the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, equivalent to an annualized yield of approximately 0.2%.

Bollard Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 9.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 37,402 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,171 shares during the period. Bollard Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,755,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Pivotal Research reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $475.00 price target (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total transaction of $27,337.98. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at $6,305,738.46. This represents a 0.43% 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. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 4.9%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $373.51 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $190.12 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $357.60 and a 200-day moving average of $339.62. The firm has a market cap of $4.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 18.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $117.07 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings and analyst support: Alphabet’s latest results significantly exceeded consensus expectations, reinforcing confidence in accelerating revenue and profit growth. Multiple reports describe the stock as undervalued or a favorable growth investment, while analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating. Alphabet Stock is Climbing: What's Going On Today?
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure positioning: Commentary argues Alphabet is better equipped than many peers to absorb the cost of Nvidia chips while benefiting from expanding AI demand. Investors also see Google Search, cloud services, and AI infrastructure as complementary growth engines. Berkshire Hathaway’s reported investment in Alphabet adds to the bullish narrative. The Nvidia Tax: Alphabet Mitigates It Better
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo validation: An analysis reported that Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxis crash substantially less often than human-driven vehicles. While Waymo is not yet a major earnings contributor, the finding supports Alphabet’s long-term autonomous-driving and technology portfolio. Waymo robotaxis found to crash 68% less often
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial AI momentum: Google’s partnership with Paris Saint-Germain and participation in upcoming White House AI-regulation discussions highlight expanding enterprise and institutional interest in its AI capabilities. Paris Saint-Germain partners with Google on AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s lead in cloud market share remains a competitive concern, although Alphabet’s Google Cloud continues to grow and benefits from the same AI spending cycle. Microsoft Races Ahead of Google in the Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are weighing whether heavy AI capital expenditures will temporarily pressure margins or create durable long-term returns.
• Negative Sentiment: A Google Earth tool reportedly made it possible to create AI-generated fake satellite imagery, raising questions about safeguards, misinformation, and potential regulatory scrutiny. For a Day, Google Made It Easy to Spoof Satellite Imagery

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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