Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 180.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,629 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,336 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,282,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Private Management Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the second quarter. Private Management Group Inc. now owns 6,215 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,196,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 131,131 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $46,333,000 after acquiring an additional 951 shares during the period. Rational Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $8,819,000. Spinnaker Trust increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Spinnaker Trust now owns 104,567 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,947,000 after acquiring an additional 2,381 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cullinan Associates Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 118,397 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $41,833,000 after acquiring an additional 22,183 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’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 directly owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of GOOG opened at $339.08 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $346.95 and its 200 day moving average is $340.75. 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 12-month low of $226.76 and a 12-month high of $404.47. The company has a market capitalization of $4.15 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $6.24. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.53 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.31 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend 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%.

Key Stories 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

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOG. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, August 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $450.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 target price (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $415.55.

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.