Montag A & Associates Inc. Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Montag A & Associates Inc. reduced its Alphabet stake by 3.2% in the first quarter, selling 6,538 shares and leaving it with 199,972 shares valued at about $57.4 million. Alphabet remains the firm’s fifth-largest holding.
• Several other institutional investors also adjusted their positions in Alphabet, while insiders sold shares during the period, including John Kent Walker and Frances Arnold. Institutional investors still own 27.26% of the stock, and insiders own 12.99%.
• Alphabet continues to get bullish analyst support, with Zacks upgrading it to “strong-buy” and multiple firms raising price targets. The stock also reported strong quarterly results, beating EPS and revenue estimates, and recently increased its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

Montag A & Associates Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 199,972 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 6,538 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.7% of Montag A & Associates Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Montag A & Associates Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $57,364,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kathmere Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 29,896 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,381,000 after purchasing an additional 2,341 shares in the last quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 275,943 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $86,596,000 after buying an additional 2,850 shares during the period. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 7.5% in the 4th quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 60,739 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $19,060,000 after buying an additional 4,239 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors raised its stake in Alphabet by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 190,654 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $59,827,000 after buying an additional 15,280 shares during the period. Finally, Violich Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 340,776 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $106,936,000 after buying an additional 3,378 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total transaction of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. The trade was a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 160,465 shares of company stock worth $8,020,511. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several pieces highlighted Alphabet’s durable AI and cloud execution, including commentary that its distribution across Search, Android, YouTube, and Google Cloud gives it an edge in monetizing AI better than many rivals.
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and market commentary remained constructive, with Zacks upgrading Alphabet to “strong-buy,” and multiple reports saying the stock still looks undervalued after its strong rally and may have further upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s cloud and AI ecosystem continues to draw positive coverage, including a new agentic AI collaboration with Accenture and reports that digital demand and data-center growth could support the business in the second half of 2026.
• Positive Sentiment: Long-term confidence also got a boost from comments that Alphabet could be a winner in the AI race due to its massive distribution footprint and ability to turn AI spending into real returns.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s search product set a record for queries per second during the World Cup, reinforcing the strength of its core franchise, though this is more of a usage signal than a direct earnings catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo’s plan to expand driverless rides to more cities supports Alphabet’s optionality in autonomous vehicles, but the impact on near-term stock performance is likely limited.
• Negative Sentiment: News that Google and OpenAI provided AI model access to Singapore-based affiliates of Chinese firms has renewed policy and export-control concerns, which could raise regulatory risk around AI distribution.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet is also facing more scrutiny abroad, including the UK bringing Google cloud services under direct oversight and an ongoing legal fight in India over its ads platform.
• Negative Sentiment: Some traders remain cautious about competition, with reports suggesting Meta could challenge Google’s AI leadership and that Alphabet’s recent price action has lagged broader tech at times.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research raised Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Pivotal Research reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $470.00 price target (up from $420.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Finally, Freedom Capital lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $378.53.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3%

GOOG traded down $1.21 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $355.03. 11,607,032 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 21,891,652. The company has a market cap of $4.30 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $177.54 and a one year high of $404.47. The company's fifty day moving average price is $369.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $335.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 6.71%.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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