Hodges Capital Management Inc. Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Hodges Capital Management increased its Alphabet stake by 148.9% in the second quarter, ending with 20,828 shares valued at approximately $7.44 million. Institutional investors collectively own about 40.03% of Alphabet.
• Alphabet reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $9.11 versus the $2.89 consensus and revenue of $119.8 billion. Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $420.19.
• Growth opportunities in Google Cloud, AI infrastructure and Waymo support the outlook, but rising AI investment, custom-chip competition, legal issues and leadership uncertainty remain key risks for investors.

Hodges Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 148.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,828 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 12,460 shares during the quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,443,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $30,534,239,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,546,413,000 after acquiring an additional 13,004,828 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28,950.0% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,671,986,000 after acquiring an additional 9,259,940 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst remains bullish: Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed its “buy” rating and set a $410 price target, implying substantial upside from the recent trading level. Analyst Scott Devitt also expects Alphabet to reach a new all-time high over the next 12 months. Rosenblatt rating
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure and cloud growth remain key positives: Google Cloud reportedly grew revenue 82% year over year in the latest quarter, while Alphabet’s partnership with Marvell expands access to custom AI accelerators, networking, storage, and memory technologies connected to Google’s TPU ecosystem. The deal could improve supply-chain flexibility and support long-term AI capacity. Marvell Google AI chip deal
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo is expanding commercially: Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit opened its lower-cost next-generation robotaxi to all riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco, potentially improving the economics and scalability of the business. Waymo robotaxi expansion
• Neutral Sentiment: Google introduced a “favorite source” feature that lets users prioritize publishers in Search, Discover, and Google News. The move may help preserve publisher relationships and search content quality, but its effect on revenue is uncertain. Google publisher feature
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is reportedly raising approximately $3.9 billion through its first Australian-dollar bond sale. The financing could support AI infrastructure investment, though it also underscores the capital intensity of the company’s expansion plans. Alphabet Australian dollar bond
• Negative Sentiment: Custom-chip competition is increasing: Marvell’s agreement and potential $12.2 billion warrant give Google an incentive to direct more purchases toward Marvell, raising concerns that Broadcom’s previously dominant role in Google’s TPU ecosystem could be diluted. While diversification may benefit Google over time, investors may view the deal as evidence that AI spending will require heavier investment and a more complex supply chain.
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and execution risks remain: A court delayed approval of Google’s proposed purchase of Spirit Airlines’ internal data after union objections, while Micro1 is offering more than Google’s reported $10 million bid. Separately, the departure of longtime AI leader Jeff Dean and expectations that the flagship Gemini Pro release may be delayed into the autumn add to investor uncertainty. Spirit Airlines data sale delay
• Negative Sentiment: A law firm announced an investigation into potential claims on behalf of Alphabet investors, creating an additional headline risk, although no allegations or financial impact were established in the announcement. Alphabet investor investigation

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $340.67 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. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $199.43 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The business has a fifty day moving average of $352.30 and a 200-day moving average of $341.34. The stock has a market cap of $4.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The business 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%. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 4.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Barclays reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $425.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, CICC Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Five equities research 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 MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $420.19.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The shares were 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 trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 451,945 shares of company stock valued at $12,382,714 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet 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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