Hilltop Holdings Inc. Has $15.69 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Hilltop Holdings Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 41.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 54,577 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 38,149 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 1.4% of Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,694,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $277,696,000 after purchasing an additional 93,293 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $25,679,000 after buying an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,902,000. Private Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,736,000 after buying an additional 2,678 shares during the period. Finally, W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 17.1% in the 4th quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 118,966 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $37,236,000 after buying an additional 17,415 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $373.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $357.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $339.62. 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 one year low of $190.12 and a one year high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.57 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors 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 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Freedom Capital raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $393.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. CICC Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 price objective (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $419.86.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings and analyst support: Alphabet’s latest results significantly exceeded consensus expectations, reinforcing confidence in accelerating revenue and profit growth. Multiple reports describe the stock as undervalued or a favorable growth investment, while analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating. Alphabet Stock is Climbing: What’s Going On Today?
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure positioning: Commentary argues Alphabet is better equipped than many peers to absorb the cost of Nvidia chips while benefiting from expanding AI demand. Investors also see Google Search, cloud services, and AI infrastructure as complementary growth engines. Berkshire Hathaway’s reported investment in Alphabet adds to the bullish narrative. The Nvidia Tax: Alphabet Mitigates It Better
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo validation: An analysis reported that Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxis crash substantially less often than human-driven vehicles. While Waymo is not yet a major earnings contributor, the finding supports Alphabet’s long-term autonomous-driving and technology portfolio. Waymo robotaxis found to crash 68% less often
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial AI momentum: Google’s partnership with Paris Saint-Germain and participation in upcoming White House AI-regulation discussions highlight expanding enterprise and institutional interest in its AI capabilities. Paris Saint-Germain partners with Google on AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s lead in cloud market share remains a competitive concern, although Alphabet’s Google Cloud continues to grow and benefits from the same AI spending cycle. Microsoft Races Ahead of Google in the Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are weighing whether heavy AI capital expenditures will temporarily pressure margins or create durable long-term returns.
• Negative Sentiment: A Google Earth tool reportedly made it possible to create AI-generated fake satellite imagery, raising questions about safeguards, misinformation, and potential regulatory scrutiny. For a Day, Google Made It Easy to Spoof Satellite Imagery

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Profile

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.