Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 418,449 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,754 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 5.8% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $147,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 34.0% during the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction 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 through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total value of $27,337.98. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $353.47 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.75, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $197.46 and a 1 year high of $404.47. The business has a fifty day moving average of $353.94 and a 200-day moving average of $338.96.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The company’s revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying remained supportive. State Street added an estimated 12.7 million shares of Alphabet’s Class A stock, while Mitsubishi UFJ, Lazard and Citizens Financial also increased their Alphabet positions in second-quarter 13F filings. State Street fund update
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses continue to show strong commercial momentum. Gemini reportedly reached 950 million monthly active users, Google Cloud revenue surged 82% in the second quarter, and its backlog reached $514 billion. A new multiyear, $100 million-plus Google Cloud agreement with AI lab Mirendil could add further demand for cloud infrastructure. Google AI and DeepMind report
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is reorganizing its AI leadership. DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis is moving into a broader chief scientist role, while Chief Scientist Jeff Dean is departing after 27 years. The changes could improve long-term research focus but raise concerns about talent retention and execution. Google AI leadership report
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet launched a roughly $25 billion, 10-part bond offering to finance expanded AI infrastructure spending. Strong demand—reportedly about $115 billion in orders—supports its credit profile, but investors remain concerned that rising capital expenditures and borrowing could reduce returns or increase financial risk. Alphabet bond offering report
• Negative Sentiment: Zacks Research downgraded Alphabet from “strong buy” to “hold,” adding to valuation and near-term sentiment pressure. Separately, several investment managers—including Mawer, First Eagle, Diamond Hill and SCS Capital—reported reductions in Alphabet holdings. Zacks Research
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned $15 billion India data-center project faces opposition over water use and wildlife concerns, creating potential regulatory and development hurdles for its infrastructure expansion. Google India data center report

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities set a $393.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $410.09.

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.