EP Wealth Advisors LLC Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• EP Wealth Advisors increased its Alphabet position by 3.5% in the second quarter, adding 36,532 shares for a total of 1.08 million shares valued at approximately $386.9 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 40.03% of Alphabet.
• Alphabet reported quarterly revenue of $119.8 billion and EPS of $9.11, substantially exceeding analysts’ estimates. The company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, equal to a 0.3% annualized yield.
• Analysts maintain a favorable outlook, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $420.19, but investors face risks from heavy AI infrastructure spending, legal scrutiny, and insider selling.

EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,082,743 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 36,532 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.5% of EP Wealth Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. EP Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $386,940,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% in the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $137,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Ruggaard & Associates LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Evansbrook LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 1st quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 9,522 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,738,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

GOOGL stock opened at $338.46 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.90 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $349.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the 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 sale, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue growth and expanding margins continue to support Alphabet’s AI investment strategy. Supporters argue that cloud growth—reportedly up 82% year over year—could eventually justify the company’s much higher spending. Google Cloud growth article
• Positive Sentiment: A federal judge rejected a forced breakup of Google’s ad-tech business, limiting the immediate structural risk to Alphabet. The company will instead face behavioral remedies, although the ad-network business recently contracted. Google ad-business ruling
• Positive Sentiment: New AI features in Gmail, Docs and Keep, along with continued Gemini development, could improve user engagement and strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position in generative AI. Rosenblatt also reaffirmed a buy rating with a $410 price target. Google AI product launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share on September 14 to shareholders of record on September 4, providing a modest income component but unlikely to materially change the investment case. Alphabet dividend article
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet raised 2026 capital-spending guidance to approximately $195 billion–$205 billion. Second-quarter free cash flow turned negative as capital expenditures reached $44.9 billion, raising concerns that AI infrastructure spending may take years to generate adequate returns. Alphabet cloud margins and AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also concerned about execution: Gemini 3.5 Pro reportedly remained delayed, while the company faces multiple securities-fraud investigations and continued scrutiny over its ad-tech practices. These issues add legal and competitive risk to an already expensive AI buildout. Gemini delay article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Pivotal Research reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Arete Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, HSBC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $420.19.

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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