Lakewood Capital Management LP Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Lakewood Capital Management increased its Alphabet stake by 5.2% in the second quarter, bringing its holdings to 60,580 shares valued at approximately $21.6 million. Institutional investors collectively own about 40% of Alphabet.
• Alphabet reported quarterly earnings of $9.11 per share, well above the $2.89 analyst estimate, while revenue reached $119.8 billion. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $420.19.
• Alphabet is accelerating its AI expansion, including a planned $15 billion investment in Finnish data centers and AI infrastructure and a 1,000-engineer partnership with Accenture. However, the spending is pressuring free cash flow, while competition from AI agents and increased European regulation pose risks to its search business.

Lakewood Capital Management LP increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 60,580 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,000 shares during the quarter. Lakewood Capital Management LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,649,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its stake in Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.9% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.3%

Alphabet stock opened at $330.65 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.61, a PEG ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. 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 Inc. has a 1 year low of $235.84 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $347.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $343.57.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google announced plans to invest at least €13 billion ($15 billion) in Finnish data centers and AI infrastructure over the next two years—its largest-ever European investment. The facilities are expected to support Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube, while a power agreement with Fortum, including nuclear energy, may help address AI’s substantial electricity needs. Google to invest $15 billion AI infrastructure in Finland
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud and Accenture launched a joint unit deploying 1,000 engineers to help companies implement AI agents. The initiative could accelerate enterprise adoption of Google’s cloud and AI services and improve monetization of Alphabet’s infrastructure spending. Google Cloud and Accenture AI deployment deal
• Positive Sentiment: Co-founder Sergey Brin is taking a more active role in advancing Gemini, signaling increased founder involvement as Alphabet seeks to strengthen its position in the AI race. Sergey Brin takes bigger role in Google AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts continue to cite Alphabet’s strong return on invested capital, balance sheet and rapidly growing Google Cloud business as long-term strengths. However, the stock’s valuation is being assessed alongside its expanding AI infrastructure commitments.
• Negative Sentiment: The scale of the Finland and broader AI buildout increases capital expenditures and is pressuring free cash flow, creating uncertainty about when the investments will generate sufficient returns.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s launch of the paid Muse AI agent raised concerns that autonomous assistants could bypass traditional search results, weakening Alphabet’s search advertising model. Higher Treasury yields are also weighing on high-multiple technology stocks. Meta Muse AI agent pressures Alphabet
• Negative Sentiment: Google warned that EU-mandated changes to its European search results could reduce search quality, increase costs for businesses and potentially affect user engagement. Google warns of lower-quality European search results

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Pivotal Research restated a "buy" rating and set a $475.00 target price (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Arete Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Five investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $420.19.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology and holding company founded in 2015 through a restructuring of Google. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and operates globally, serving consumers, businesses, advertisers and developers across numerous countries and regions.

Alphabet's largest business is Google Services, which includes Google Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and hardware products such as Pixel devices. These products support activities including internet search, digital content distribution, mobile computing, online communications and advertising.

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