Heritage Investors Management Corp Lowers Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Heritage Investors Management Corp trimmed its Alphabet stake by 1.9% in the first quarter, selling 7,458 shares and ending with 388,502 shares valued at about $111.7 million.
• Despite that reduction, institutional interest remains significant, with institutions owning 40.03% of Alphabet and several other funds making only small position changes.
• Wall Street remains bullish on Alphabet: multiple analysts raised price targets, and the consensus rating is Moderate Buy with a target of about $413.92, supported by strong AI, cloud, and advertising growth narratives.

Heritage Investors Management Corp cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 388,502 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,458 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 3.4% of Heritage Investors Management Corp's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Heritage Investors Management Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $111,718,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Symmetry Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Private Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,540 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $730,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Members Trust Co grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Insight 2811 Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $978,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: KeyCorp raised its price target on Alphabet to $445 from $425 and kept an overweight rating, reinforcing the view that the stock still has meaningful upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple upbeat articles highlighted Alphabet as a leading AI and cloud beneficiary, with commentary pointing to strong distribution through Search, Android, YouTube, Google Cloud, and chips as reasons it could monetize AI better than peers.
• Positive Sentiment: New coverage argued Alphabet looks undervalued after a big run over the past year, while other pieces said the company remains one of the most attractive megacap tech names on a risk/reward basis.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks and other market commentators continued to include GOOGL among cloud and internet stocks positioned to benefit from AI-driven data center spending and digital demand growth.
• Positive Sentiment: Business and tech commentary also pointed to product and platform strengths, including Google Search setting records during the World Cup and Waymo planning more driverless-car expansion, which support the long-term growth narrative.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet said it will begin disclosing which ads are generated with AI, a transparency move that may help trust and compliance but is unlikely to materially change near-term earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Britain moved to regulate Google as a critical cloud supplier to protect financial stability; the change adds oversight, but it also underscores the importance of Google Cloud rather than signaling a fundamental business setback.
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Google is appealing an Indian ads-related trademark ruling, a legal issue that could create some noise but does not yet appear to be a major stock-moving event.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short-interest data was effectively flat at zero shares reported, offering little actionable signal for traders.
• Negative Sentiment: One Reuters-linked report said Google and OpenAI provided AI services to Singapore-based subsidiaries of Chinese groups on the Pentagon blacklist, which could raise regulatory scrutiny and geopolitical concerns.
• Negative Sentiment: Technical commentary noted Alphabet is testing a key resistance zone after a recovery, suggesting the stock may need a fresh catalyst to extend its move higher.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and set a $415.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Robert W. Baird raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $413.92.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were 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 directly 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,833 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $357.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.33 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $176.48 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The business's fifty day moving average is $372.61 and its 200-day moving average is $336.44.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.71%.

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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