Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Sells 50,793 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Ceredex Value Advisors reduced its Alphabet position by 32.8% in the second quarter, selling 50,793 shares and retaining 104,261 shares valued at approximately $36.8 million.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with Alphabet receiving an overall “Buy” rating and an average price target of $415.55; recent targets include $475 from RBC and Pivotal Research.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, posting $9.11 in EPS and $119.8 billion in revenue, up 24.2% year over year. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, or $0.88 annualized.

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 104,261 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 50,793 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Ceredex Value Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 27th largest holding. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,839,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $45,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wolfe Research restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Pivotal Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $415.55.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $337.71 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $206.96 and a 1 year high of $404.47. 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 market cap of $4.13 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $348.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $339.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. 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 analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. Alphabet's revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the 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 directly owned 75,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 451,843 shares of company stock valued at $12,343,852. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google employees are reportedly testing Gemini 3.8 Flash, suggesting a new model could launch soon and strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position in generative AI. The company also hired AI researcher Barret Zoph as a Google DeepMind research vice president. Google employees are already testing the next Gemini Flash AI model
• Positive Sentiment: Wolfe Research named Alphabet a top 2027 stock pick and set a $460 target, citing accelerating Google Cloud growth and expanding AI monetization opportunities. Analysts also highlighted strong advertising performance, including reported 14.4% second-quarter ad-revenue growth. Alphabet is a top 2027 stock pick
• Positive Sentiment: Google expanded AI Mode with tools to track flight prices and help users book hotels, potentially increasing commercial activity and supporting future search-related revenue. Google's AI Mode can now track flight prices, help book hotels, and more
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet joined more than 100 technology companies in calling for coordinated defenses against rogue-AI cyber threats. The move may support responsible-AI efforts but also underscores growing scrutiny of the sector. Companies call for action to defend against rogue AI
• Negative Sentiment: The FTC is reportedly in the final stages of investigating whether YouTube violated consumer-protection laws by suspending users’ accounts and may prepare a lawsuit. Potential penalties, compliance costs and restrictions on YouTube’s policies are weighing on sentiment. US FTC probes YouTube over social media policies
• Negative Sentiment: Google agreed to pay approximately $353 million to settle a U.K. class-action lawsuit brought by app developers over fees, creating a direct financial charge and potentially raising concerns about additional platform-related claims. Google agrees to settle UK app developers' lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Law firms including Pomerantz and Frank R. Cruz announced investigations into possible securities-law violations. These notices are typically investor-solicitation announcements rather than new findings, but they add to the negative legal-news flow. Pomerantz investor alert

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source