Wedge Capital Management L L P NC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 233,449 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,694 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.4% of Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $83,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,630,861,000 after buying an additional 3,218,852 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.2%

GOOGL stock opened at $344.72 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $352.64 and its 200-day simple moving average is $341.32. The company has a market capitalization of $4.22 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. 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 12 month low of $196.60 and a 12 month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued 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. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 451,945 shares of company stock worth $12,382,714. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Custom AI-chip partnership strengthens Alphabet’s infrastructure position. Marvell Technology issued Alphabet a warrant to purchase up to 58.97 million shares—roughly 6.7% of Marvell—at $206.58 per share, as part of a partnership to develop custom chips that connect to Google’s TPU ecosystem. The deal signals continued investment in internally tailored AI computing capacity and could reduce reliance on existing suppliers. Marvell Google AI chip deal
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud remains a major growth engine. Cloud revenue reportedly rose 82% year over year to $24.8 billion in the second quarter, outpacing Microsoft Azure and Amazon Web Services. The growth reflects strong demand for AI workloads and supports the case that Alphabet’s substantial AI capital spending is generating customer revenue. Google Cloud growth
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expanded commercial access to cheaper robotaxis. Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit opened its next-generation, lower-cost vehicles to all riders in Los Angeles, Phoenix, and San Francisco. Lower production, operating, and maintenance costs could improve Waymo’s long-term scalability. Waymo robotaxi expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment was supported by institutional backing and favorable technical signals. Berkshire Hathaway reportedly increased its Alphabet position to approximately $37 billion, while Morgan Stanley identified Alphabet among large-cap technology stocks showing bullish momentum. Berkshire Alphabet investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet raised about $3.9 billion through its inaugural Australian-dollar bond, supporting AI and data-center investment but also adding to concerns about rising borrowing across the AI industry. Alphabet Australian dollar bond
• Negative Sentiment: Prediction markets indicate that Google’s next flagship Gemini Pro model is unlikely to launch before September, extending a delay that could weigh on competitive positioning in generative AI. Gemini launch delay

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Freedom Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Robert W. Baird boosted their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $419.86.

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.