WCM Investment Management LLC Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 287.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,886 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,883 shares during the quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,063,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 855.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,546,413,000 after buying an additional 13,004,828 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 28,950.0% during the 1st quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,671,986,000 after acquiring an additional 9,259,940 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is reportedly backing a potential $15 billion Texas data-center project tied to Anthropic, providing financial guarantees and chips. The project could strengthen Google Cloud’s AI infrastructure position and create additional demand for Alphabet’s services, although the guarantees also add financial exposure. Anthropic data center financing
• Positive Sentiment: Google said AI-assisted development enabled it to fix more Chrome security vulnerabilities in June than during the previous two years combined. Faster security improvements could support Chrome’s reliability and Google’s broader AI-productivity narrative. Google Chrome security improvements
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains broadly favorable: Erste Group raised its 2026 EPS forecast to $20.50 from $14.27, above the roughly $20.15 consensus, while other firms maintain bullish ratings and targets. Alphabet also expanded its Gemini partnership with Oracle, potentially widening enterprise AI distribution. Alphabet growth-stock analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s strong Azure and Copilot results reinforce robust enterprise AI demand, but they also highlight the intense competition among hyperscalers and may raise investor expectations for Google Cloud.
• Negative Sentiment: Reddit’s CEO said Google’s AI Overviews have not replaced the referral value of traditional “10 blue links.” Reduced traffic to publishers could increase pressure on Google’s search ecosystem and raise questions about how AI summaries will protect advertising economics. Reddit CEO comments on Google AI Overviews
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet faces additional sentiment headwinds from securities-law investigations and recent insider or major-shareholder stock sales. These filings are relatively small compared with Alphabet’s market value, but they can weigh on confidence during a post-earnings selloff.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $440.00 target price (up from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 price target (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $393.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $390.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 target price (up from $405.00) 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 assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

GOOGL opened at $333.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $187.82 and a one year high of $408.61. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $358.32 and a 200-day moving average price of $339.18. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 of this dividend 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 4.42%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. 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.