Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s 4th Largest Position

Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.9% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 111,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 22,657 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.7% of Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Leith Wheeler Investment Counsel Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,105,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its position in Alphabet by 17.6% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.9% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $2,232,808.20. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total transaction of $27,337.98. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,305,738.46. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $333.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.94 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $187.82 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $358.32 and a 200-day simple moving average of $339.18.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.52 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target 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.