Westpac Banking Corp Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Westpac Banking Corp reduced its Alphabet stake by 4.8% in the first quarter, selling 12,604 shares and retaining 250,640 shares valued at approximately $72.1 million. Alphabet remains Westpac’s fourth-largest holding, representing about 5% of its portfolio.
• Institutional ownership of Alphabet stands at 40.03%, while insiders sold approximately $16.3 million worth of shares over the past 90 days, creating a modest sentiment headwind.
• Alphabet reported a significant quarterly earnings and revenue beat, and analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating with a $419.86 price target. Shares opened at $356.13, while the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.

Westpac Banking Corp lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 250,640 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,604 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 5.0% of Westpac Banking Corp's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Westpac Banking Corp's holdings in Alphabet were worth $72,074,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. NewEdge Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares during the period. PFG Investments LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares during the period. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,902,000. Private Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,736,000 after buying an additional 2,678 shares during the last quarter. Finally, W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 17.1% during the 4th quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 118,966 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $37,236,000 after buying an additional 17,415 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. 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 value of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 6.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $356.13 on Friday. 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 $187.82 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The business's fifty day moving average price is $357.79 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $339.30. The company has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.89, a PEG ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during 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%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $419.86.

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

Alphabet Company 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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