Willis Investment Counsel Has $17.80 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Willis Investment Counsel increased its Alphabet stake by 22.4% in the second quarter, adding 9,120 shares to own 49,797 shares valued at approximately $17.8 million.
• Analysts maintain a bullish outlook, with Alphabet receiving a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $420.19. Recent quarterly results also exceeded expectations, with $119.8 billion in revenue and $9.11 in EPS.
• Alphabet shares opened at $344.82, while insiders have sold approximately 451,945 shares worth $12.4 million over the past 90 days; the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.

Willis Investment Counsel raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 22.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 49,797 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,120 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel's holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,796,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 451,945 shares of company stock valued at $12,382,714. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $420.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $344.82 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $352.00 and a 200-day moving average price of $341.37. The company has a market cap of $4.22 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $201.30 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Rosenblatt upgraded Alphabet to “strong buy” and reiterated a $410 price target, implying substantial upside and reinforcing the bullish view following Alphabet’s strong earnings report. Alphabet upgraded by Rosenblatt Securities
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI spending continues to attract major customers and suppliers. Marvell’s custom-chip agreement includes a warrant structure that would require up to $120 billion of cumulative purchases from Google for full vesting, signaling the potentially enormous scale of Alphabet’s TPU and AI infrastructure buildout. Google’s Marvell warrant
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo received approval to operate up to thousands of commercial robotaxis in Nevada and opened its lower-cost next-generation vehicle to riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Lower production and operating costs could improve the long-term economics of Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit. Waymo Nevada robotaxi approval
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s earnings momentum remains a support for the stock. The company recently exceeded consensus estimates for both adjusted earnings and revenue, while analysts and prominent investors—including Berkshire Hathaway—continue to highlight Alphabet’s AI positioning and valuation.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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