HighTower Advisors LLC Has $667.40 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,126,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 66,656 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 0.7% of HighTower Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. HighTower Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $667,399,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after acquiring an additional 7,904,434 shares during the period. Danske Bank A S acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $678,198,000. PFA Pension Forsikringsaktieselskab acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $869,781,000. Finally, Holocene Advisors LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $455,745,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $470.00 price objective (up from $420.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Finally, TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $372.65.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are encouraged by Alphabet’s push to monetize AI in Search, including Gemini-powered ad formats and conversational ads that could expand search advertising revenue. Google Wants Ads to Talk Back in AI Search
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is also seeing bullish attention around its AI stack and cloud business, with coverage highlighting TPUs, AI compute services, and product momentum that could support long-term growth. Alphabet Ties AI Hardware Cloud And Ads As EU Scrutiny Rises
• Positive Sentiment: Recent analyst and market commentary remains constructive, with multiple reports pointing to strong prior earnings, elevated price targets, and continued investor interest in GOOG. GOOGL’s Innovative Ad Format to Boost Search Growth: What’s Ahead?
• Neutral Sentiment: News that a Google engineer was charged with insider trading on Polymarket is negative for headlines, but it appears to be an individual legal issue rather than a companywide operational problem. Google Employee Charged With Insider Trading on Polymarket
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitor and user-behavior articles suggest some users are testing alternatives like DuckDuckGo after Google’s AI Search overhaul, highlighting possible search-share pressure, though the long-term impact is still unclear. Some users may be giving Google’s AI search the bird, and DuckDuckGo is benefiting
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet faces mounting regulatory risk, including reports that the EU may issue a record fine over alleged search monopoly practices, which could weigh on sentiment. Market Chatter: Alphabet’s Google Nears Record European Union Fine Over Alleged Search Monopoly
• Negative Sentiment: Several stories also say Google’s AI search redesign is pushing some users and marketers to rethink reliance on Google, which raises concern that AI changes could disrupt the traditional search ad model. OpenAI is building a new kind of ad machine. Early data suggests Google should worry.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0%

GOOG opened at $384.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $4.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.65 and a beta of 1.25. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $163.33 and a twelve month high of $404.47. The company has a fifty day moving average of $340.34 and a 200-day moving average of $323.19. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.81 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 6.41%.

Alphabet Company 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.