Heartland Bank & Trust Co Has $10.75 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Heartland Bank & Trust Co lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,398 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,499 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.4% of Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th 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. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Freedom Capital raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Loop Capital upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $333.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.76, a PEG ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $187.82 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $360.45 and a 200 day moving average of $339.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $119.80 billion for 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s second-quarter results showed $119.80 billion in revenue and $112.19 billion in net income, while Google Cloud growth and early AI monetization helped reinforce the long-term investment case. Several analysts remain bullish; Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to “strong buy,” and KeyCorp raised its fiscal 2028 EPS estimate to $17.88 while maintaining an “Overweight” rating and a $445 price target. Alphabet Q2 earnings analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to attract support from value investors and dip buyers, with reports indicating that prominent investors increased their positions. The company also secured a multiyear agreement to bring Peacock content to YouTube Premium subscribers, potentially strengthening YouTube’s subscription and content ecosystem. Investors increase Alphabet positions
• Neutral Sentiment: The broader technology market is volatile ahead of major Big Tech earnings and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision. That macro uncertainty may be contributing to sharp moves in Alphabet despite its strong fundamentals. Wall Street rebounds ahead of FOMC
• Negative Sentiment: The primary overhang is Alphabet’s plan to spend roughly $195 billion to $205 billion on 2026 capital expenditures, largely for AI infrastructure. Investors are questioning whether the spending will generate adequate returns after Alphabet reportedly posted negative free cash flow for the first time as a public company and paused buybacks under its prior program. A proposed $69.24 billion Class C stock shelf could also raise dilution concerns. Alphabet AI spending and cash concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet faces additional legal and regulatory risk. European rivals are lining up potential private damages claims after Google lost an initial case under new EU competition rules, while Waymo faces possible federal requirements concerning emergency-response procedures. Major-shareholder sales disclosed in recent SEC filings are a smaller, but potentially negative, sentiment signal. Google faces potential European damages claims

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,348 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 285,049 shares of company stock valued at $10,051,351 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company 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.