Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. Purchases Shares of 138,824 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Coronation Fund Managers acquired 138,824 Alphabet shares worth approximately $39.9 million, making GOOGL its 16th-largest portfolio holding at about 1.8% of investments.
• Analysts maintain a positive outlook, with Alphabet carrying a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $419.86. The company also recently exceeded quarterly earnings and revenue expectations.
• Alphabet insiders sold approximately $16.3 million of stock over the past 90 days, while the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, representing a 0.2% yield.

Coronation Fund Managers Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 138,824 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $39,920,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.8% of Coronation Fund Managers Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $32,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp raised their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. New Street Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Pivotal Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $356.13 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.82 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $357.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $339.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Trending Headlines about 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

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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