Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Sells 3,985 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Bridgewater Advisors reduced its Alphabet position by 5.8% in the first quarter, selling 3,985 shares and retaining 64,782 shares valued at approximately $18.6 million.
• Alphabet reported quarterly EPS of $9.11 versus the $2.89 consensus estimate, while revenue reached $119.8 billion, ahead of expectations. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $419.86.
• Alphabet shares opened at $373.51, near their 12-month high, and the company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share. Insiders sold approximately $16.3 million of stock during the latest quarter.

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 64,782 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,985 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of Bridgewater Advisors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,629,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $21,630,861,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total value of $27,337.98. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and issued a $440.00 price target (up from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Guggenheim reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Arete Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $373.51 on Tuesday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $357.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $339.62. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $190.12 and a twelve month 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 company 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 4.42%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

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

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.

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