North Star Asset Management Inc. Acquires New Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

North Star Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 197,701 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $69,854,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.7% of North Star Asset Management Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $31,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $45,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google DeepMind is reportedly preparing to release Gemini 3.8 Flash as early as this week. Internal testing suggests the model narrows Google’s coding-performance gap with OpenAI and Anthropic, potentially improving Alphabet’s position in enterprise AI and software development. New Google AI Model Said to Narrow Gap on Coding Ability
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet-owned Waymo launched public robotaxi service in Denver, San Diego and Tampa, expanding its commercial operations to 14 U.S. cities. The rollout strengthens Alphabet’s long-term autonomous-driving opportunity as competition with Amazon’s Zoox and Tesla intensifies. Waymo accelerates robotaxi expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Google signed a 396-megawatt geothermal power agreement with Fervo Energy, supporting reliable, carbon-free electricity for data-center growth and its AI infrastructure strategy. Fervo signs geothermal power deal with Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway made Alphabet its third-largest holding after reducing Bank of America exposure. The move provides a high-profile vote of confidence, but commentary questioning whether Alphabet is fully valued limits its immediate impact. Alphabet becomes Berkshire’s third-largest holding
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Meta’s AI advertising products and OpenAI’s rapidly growing ad business could threaten Google Search’s advertising dominance and future ad growth. Competition threatens Google Search advertising
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned AI infrastructure spending—reportedly potentially reaching $205 billion this year—is raising concerns about depreciation, free cash flow and operating margins despite strong cloud and AI-driven revenue growth. Big Tech AI spending and depreciation concerns
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators are examining Google’s proposed AI-search publisher opt-out, while a reported £260 million U.K. app-store settlement underscores continuing antitrust and regulatory exposure. EU regulators examine Google AI-search opt-out

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $2,232,808.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $475.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. KeyCorp set a $445.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Raymond James Financial reissued a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $415.55.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $332.03 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $206.96 and a 12 month high of $404.47. The company has a market capitalization of $4.06 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $347.23 and a two-hundred day moving average of $340.34. 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:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.Alphabet's revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Alphabet Company 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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