Heartland Advisors Inc. Sells 1,762 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Heartland Advisors reduced its Alphabet stake by 5.9%, selling 1,762 shares and retaining 28,144 shares valued at approximately $10.1 million. Institutional investors own about 40% of Alphabet.
• Alphabet reported quarterly revenue of $119.8 billion and EPS of $9.11, exceeding analyst estimates. Analysts maintain a broadly positive outlook, with an average “Buy” rating and a $420.19 price target.
• Alphabet’s growth prospects are supported by strong Google Cloud performance and expanding AI products, but investors face risks from sharply higher capital spending, negative second-quarter free cash flow, delayed Gemini releases and ongoing regulatory scrutiny.

Heartland Advisors Inc. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 28,144 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,762 shares during the quarter. Heartland Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,058,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares during the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $28,902,000. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co boosted its position in Alphabet by 17.1% during the fourth quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 118,966 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,236,000 after purchasing an additional 17,415 shares during the period. Finally, KLCM Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 66.1% during the fourth quarter. KLCM Advisors Inc. now owns 22,877 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,161,000 after purchasing an additional 9,105 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.71, for a total value of $27,692.22. Following the sale, the director owned 18,995 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,414,801.45. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544 over the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate 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

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $338.46 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $231.90 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $349.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors 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 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 4.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, June 3rd. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $440.00 price target (up from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $420.19.

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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