Zhang Financial LLC Has $17.71 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Zhang Financial LLC grew its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 61,597 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,073 shares during the quarter. Zhang Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. EMC Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 285,049 shares of company stock worth $10,051,351 over the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Pivotal Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 price objective (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $515.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $393.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of 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 12 month low of $187.82 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $360.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $339.07. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.42%.

Alphabet News Summary

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

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.