Magellan Asset Management Ltd Buys 31,608 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Magellan Asset Management Ltd grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 676,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,608 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.5% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $194,510,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,546,413,000 after buying an additional 13,004,828 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Diamant Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28,950.0% in the first quarter. Diamant Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,291,926 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,671,986,000 after acquiring an additional 9,259,940 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total value of $3,142,911.42. Following the transaction, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540 over the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s custom Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) are increasingly viewed as credible alternatives to Nvidia chips. That could reduce Google’s dependence on external suppliers and create a potential external chip-revenue opportunity. Alphabet and Amazon custom AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Alphabet’s record quarter, strong Google Cloud growth, Gemini adoption and enterprise AI demand. Analysts and value-focused investors continue to view GOOGL as comparatively inexpensive among large technology and AI companies. Alphabet AI investment and valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Google is reportedly supporting a $15 billion Anthropic data-center project with chips and financial guarantees, while Oracle is expanding its partnership to bring Gemini models to enterprise applications. These initiatives could drive Google Cloud demand and strengthen Alphabet’s AI ecosystem. Anthropic data center backed by Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s reported quarterly earnings and revenue beat consensus estimates by wide margins, supporting the fundamental case, although investors remain focused on whether AI growth will translate into sufficient cash returns.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet withdrew its Google Earth AI image-generation feature only one day after launch following criticism that fabricated imagery could spread misinformation. The quick reversal limits immediate product risk but raises questions about AI governance and rollout discipline. Google Earth AI feature withdrawn
• Negative Sentiment: The AI buildout is becoming increasingly expensive. Alphabet is targeting up to $205 billion in 2026 capital expenditures, while rising memory and infrastructure costs are pressuring cash flow and increasing future depreciation. AI buildout costs and cash flow
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales were small relative to the executives’ remaining holdings, but they provide a modest sentiment headwind. Separately, investor-law-firm investigations could create additional legal and reputational overhang. Alphabet director stock sale

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $356.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $357.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $339.30. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $187.82 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 4.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Zacks Research raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 13th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Roth Capital reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 17th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price 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.