Provident Trust Co. Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Provident Trust Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 21.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 2,201,588 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 595,464 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 16.3% of Provident Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $777,887,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,508 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after buying an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,223 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $785,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. now owns 1,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Enhancement Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $339.08 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.21. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $226.76 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $346.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $340.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. 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 analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet 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 shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This 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 ninety days, insiders sold 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google launched Gemini 3.8 Flash, including versions designed for coding, agentic tasks and cybersecurity. The release reinforces Alphabet’s effort to close performance gaps with OpenAI and Anthropic and supports the investment case for its AI products and cloud platform. Google’s Gemini 3.8 Flash is built for agents
• Positive Sentiment: New conversational voice features in Gmail, Docs and Keep give users more ways to interact with Google’s AI ecosystem, potentially improving Gemini adoption and monetization across Workspace. Google launches AI voice features in Gmail, Docs and Keep
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway CEO Greg Abel described Alphabet as a significant AI player after Berkshire increased its stake, providing a high-profile vote of confidence in Google’s AI strategy. Berkshire CEO Abel says Alphabet is a significant AI player
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI-related energy initiatives—including a 400-megawatt geothermal agreement with Fervo—highlight efforts to secure power for data-center expansion. Strong recent Cloud growth and revenue momentum further support the bullish narrative. Enhanced geothermal notches another win as Google buys 400 MW from Fervo
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s WeatherNext 3 model and its collaboration on virtual power plants and clean-energy storage expand Alphabet’s technology and infrastructure partnerships, but the near-term financial impact remains uncertain. Google’s new AI weather model could help energy companies
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet still faces antitrust-related remedies, a securities-fraud investigation announcement and scrutiny over service outages, while its large AI capital-spending program could pressure free cash flow. Reports that a promised Gemini flagship model remains delayed also raise concerns about product execution. Securities fraud investigation into Alphabet continues

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. DZ Bank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Alphabet from $415.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, August 14th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $415.55.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.