HighTower Advisors LLC Has $1.30 Billion Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

HighTower Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,643,071 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 116,114 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.3% of HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th largest holding. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,301,924,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 451,945 shares of company stock worth $12,382,714 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $342.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.18 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $350.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $341.58. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $205.65 and a 12 month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.42%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway increased its Alphabet stake by 83% to approximately $37.8 billion, providing a significant endorsement from a major long-term investor and reinforcing confidence in Alphabet’s search, cloud and AI businesses. Berkshire Boosts Its Bet: This AI Hyperscaler Is Now a Top-3 Holding
• Positive Sentiment: Google is expanding Gemini Enterprise into regulated industries, including legal and financial services, creating potential for higher-value recurring cloud and AI revenue as enterprises adopt specialized agents. What Alphabet’s Gemini Enterprise Push Into Regulated Industries Means For Shareholders
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet-owned Waymo plans to enter Germany with driverless rides in 2027, offering a potential long-term growth avenue and demonstrating progress toward international commercialization. Waymo to launch driverless rides in Germany in 2027
• Neutral Sentiment: Google introduced new Gemini Live voice capabilities intended to let users complete multiple tasks without choosing among separate AI tools. The feature may improve engagement, although its near-term financial impact is unclear. Google’s Gemini has a branding problem
• Negative Sentiment: A settlement involving Meta and U.S. state attorneys general has renewed scrutiny of how YouTube protects children and teenagers. Investors are concerned that similar requirements could impose substantial compliance costs or financial obligations on Alphabet. Why is Alphabet stock down today?
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet moved its AI-responsibility team out of DeepMind, prompting concerns among researchers about independence and the team’s ability to identify risks in new models. The development adds governance and reputational uncertainty to the company’s aggressive AI rollout. Google Moves AI-Responsibility Team Out of DeepMind Lab
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Nvidia-based AI server prices may rise by more than 15% could increase Alphabet’s infrastructure costs, adding pressure to margins as the company continues heavy AI capital spending. Alphabet Spends About 60 Cents of Every Technical Infrastructure Dollar on Servers

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $445.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Susquehanna reiterated a “positive” rating and set a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $420.19.

Alphabet 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.