World Investment Advisors Increases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

World Investment Advisors boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 195,709 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,055 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.9% of World Investment Advisors’ holdings, making the stock its 14th largest position. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $56,141,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A lifted its position in Alphabet by 34.0% during the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 1st. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Phillip Securities downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $376.19.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street is looking for another strong earnings report from Alphabet, with AI and Google Cloud expected to keep driving growth ahead of the company’s upcoming results. Alphabet Q2 Earnings Preview: What To Expect From Upcoming Report
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google unit joined a €411 million funding round for Proxima Fusion, reinforcing its interest in frontier energy and other long-duration AI-adjacent opportunities. Google, RWE back Proxima Fusion in €411 million financing round
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlighting Alphabet as a potential “forever holding” for Berkshire-style investors may be helping reinforce the stock’s long-term AI and cash-flow appeal. Prediction: This Magnificent Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stock Will Become Berkshire’s Next Forever Holding
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet announced that its Made by Google Pixel event will be held on August 12, which could build anticipation for new hardware updates but is not a major fundamental catalyst by itself. Google’s Pixel event is set for August 12
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary comparing Alphabet with Palantir and Taiwan Semiconductor keeps Alphabet in the center of AI-stock debates, but these are mostly valuation and relative-performance discussions rather than direct business news. Palantir Vs. Google: Why Palantir is Surging in July and Should Investors Buy it Over Google?
• Negative Sentiment: TechCrunch reported that Google is expanding AI training to include more user-uploaded media, which could raise fresh privacy concerns and fuel scrutiny over how customer data is used. If you use Google, you’re training its AI. Here’s how to opt out.
• Negative Sentiment: Business Insider noted that Google’s status as a top tech employer is becoming less certain as AI-linked salary competition pushes some talent elsewhere, which could add pressure to retention. Google’s status as the dream tech job is changing. FOMO over AI salaries is only one reason why.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% 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 160,465 shares of company stock valued at $8,020,511. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $363.62 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $4.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.74, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $173.88 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $369.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $334.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.81 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

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.