Magellan Asset Management Ltd Has $194.51 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Magellan Asset Management increased its Alphabet position by 4.9% in the first quarter, ending with 676,417 shares valued at approximately $194.5 million. Alphabet represents about 2.5% of the firm’s portfolio.
• Alphabet reported quarterly EPS of $9.11 and revenue of $119.8 billion, substantially exceeding analyst expectations. Analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with an average price target of $419.86.
• Alphabet’s AI and cloud expansion is supporting investor optimism, but rising capital expenditures, infrastructure costs, AI governance concerns and insider selling remain potential headwinds.

Magellan Asset Management Ltd increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 676,417 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 31,608 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.5% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Magellan Asset Management Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $194,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Midwest Professional Planners LTD. now owns 2,364 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $680,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Symmetry Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,476,000 after buying 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 during the last quarter. Finally, SKY Mountain Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. SKY Mountain Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,791 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $803,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $356.13 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.82 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.89, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The business's 50 day moving average is $357.79 and its 200-day moving average is $339.30. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (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 analysts' expectations of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) are increasingly viewed as credible alternatives to Nvidia chips. That could reduce Google’s dependence on external suppliers and create a potential external chip-revenue opportunity. Alphabet and Amazon custom AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Alphabet’s record quarter, strong Google Cloud growth, Gemini adoption and enterprise AI demand. Analysts and value-focused investors continue to view GOOGL as comparatively inexpensive among large technology and AI companies. Alphabet AI investment and valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Google is reportedly supporting a $15 billion Anthropic data-center project with chips and financial guarantees, while Oracle is expanding its partnership to bring Gemini models to enterprise applications. These initiatives could drive Google Cloud demand and strengthen Alphabet’s AI ecosystem. Anthropic data center backed by Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s reported quarterly earnings and revenue beat consensus estimates by wide margins, supporting the fundamental case, although investors remain focused on whether AI growth will translate into sufficient cash returns.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet withdrew its Google Earth AI image-generation feature only one day after launch following criticism that fabricated imagery could spread misinformation. The quick reversal limits immediate product risk but raises questions about AI governance and rollout discipline. Google Earth AI feature withdrawn
• Negative Sentiment: The AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Alphabet is targeting up to $205 billion in 2026 capital expenditures, while rising memory and infrastructure costs are pressuring cash flow and increasing future depreciation. AI buildout costs and cash flow
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales were small relative to the executives’ remaining holdings, but they provide a modest sentiment headwind. Separately, investor-law-firm investigations could create additional legal and reputational overhang. Alphabet director stock sale

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird upped their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. CICC Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $390.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Dbs Bank upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $419.86.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540. Corporate 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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