State of Wyoming Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• State of Wyoming reduced its Alphabet position by 5.7% in the second quarter, selling 1,698 shares and retaining 28,257 shares valued at approximately $10.1 million. Alphabet remains the fund’s seventh-largest holding and represents 1% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet reported stronger-than-expected quarterly results, with $119.8 billion in revenue and $9.11 in earnings per share, while Google Cloud and artificial-intelligence adoption remain key growth drivers.
• Despite favorable analyst sentiment and a consensus “Buy” rating, Alphabet faces ongoing regulatory and legal risks, including an EU antitrust matter, a $353 million UK settlement and an FTC investigation involving YouTube.

State of Wyoming decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 28,257 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,698 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.0% of State of Wyoming's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. State of Wyoming's holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,098,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Uniplan Investment Counsel Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $65,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud and AI remain the main growth drivers. Rising Cloud revenue, AI adoption and a reported $514 billion backlog strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position against Microsoft and Amazon, although capacity constraints could limit near-term execution. Rising Cloud Revenue Strengthens Alphabet Against MSFT & AMZN
• Positive Sentiment: New Gemini and AI Mode features could increase user engagement and monetization. Google is expanding AI Mode to track flight prices and assist with hotel bookings, while reviews of its personal-intelligence tools suggest broader consumer adoption. Employees are also reportedly testing a next-generation Gemini Flash model. Google's AI Mode can now track flight prices, help book hotels, and more
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment and technical momentum remain favorable. Brokerages maintain an average “Buy” recommendation, while technical commentary points to support above approximately $340. Alphabet’s valuation, margins and cash generation are viewed as attractive relative to many AI peers. Alphabet Receives Average Recommendation of Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s custom-chip strategy is creating demand for AI infrastructure. Marvell’s large Google-related AI-chip opportunity highlights Alphabet’s willingness to invest in proprietary computing capacity, potentially supporting long-term performance and reducing reliance on outside suppliers. Marvell’s Google AI-chip opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Google changed its European spam and site-reputation policy. The adjustment is intended to address European Commission concerns and reduce the risk of an antitrust fine, but it may affect how Google ranks publisher content and reflects ongoing regulatory pressure. Google changes spam policy in EU to avert antitrust fine
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risks continue to weigh on the investment case. Multiple law firms announced securities-fraud investigations, while Google agreed to a $353 million settlement with UK app developers. These announcements do not establish wrongdoing but could create financial and reputational costs. Google agrees to settle UK app developers’ lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: The FTC is reportedly considering action involving YouTube. The investigation concerns account suspensions and possible consumer-protection violations, adding another regulatory overhang for Alphabet. US FTC probes YouTube over social media policies

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $346.59 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $206.20 and a one year high of $408.61. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $349.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $341.74. 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 posted its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 4.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. New Street Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $450.00 to $455.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, June 5th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and issued a $395.00 price target (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $420.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related 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 transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares of the company's stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 stock was sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $2,232,808.20. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 451,843 shares of company stock worth $12,343,852. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

About Alphabet

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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