Madison Asset Management LLC Sells 19,384 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Madison Asset Management LLC lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 610,192 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 19,384 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.6% of Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest position. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $215,599,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Auto Owners Insurance Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 38,409.2% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after acquiring an additional 179,369,280 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its stake in Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the fourth quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,174,429,000 after purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 850.3% in the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,551,938,000 after purchasing an additional 15,830,754 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. 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 the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 451,945 shares of company stock worth $12,382,714. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google introduced flexible billing and resource-allocation tools for Gemini Enterprise and Google Antigravity, helping businesses manage unpredictable AI spending. The initiative could reduce a key barrier to enterprise AI adoption and support Google Cloud demand. Google Launches Flexible Billing To Manage Exploding AI Costs
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet expanded Gemini Enterprise with specialized solutions for financial-services and legal customers, including industry-specific agents, data connectors and workflow tools. The launches strengthen Google Cloud’s effort to monetize agentic AI and compete with Microsoft and Anthropic. Google Cloud Launches Gemini Enterprise for Financial Services
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo plans to test autonomous vehicles in Munich and launch driverless rides in Germany in 2027. The expansion provides a long-term growth catalyst for Alphabet’s autonomous-driving investment, although commercialization remains years away. Waymo to launch driverless rides in Germany in 2027
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly increased its Alphabet position by 83% to roughly $37.8 billion, making it one of Berkshire’s largest holdings. The high-profile purchase reinforces investor confidence in Alphabet’s search, cloud and AI businesses. Berkshire Hathaway increases Alphabet stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon are reportedly negotiating with China’s Moonshot AI to host its Kimi K3 model, with Moonshot seeking as much as 30% of related revenue. Hosting could create cloud revenue, but the proposed revenue share and U.S.-China technology restrictions may limit the benefit. China’s Moonshot in talks over K3 revenue sharing
• Negative Sentiment: A child-safety settlement involving Meta has renewed scrutiny of how YouTube protects minors. Investors are concerned that similar requirements could expose Alphabet to substantial compliance costs or financial liabilities.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader weakness in the Nasdaq-100 and major technology stocks added selling pressure, with Alphabet identified as a significant contributor to the index’s decline. Rising server prices for systems using Nvidia AI chips could also increase Alphabet’s already heavy infrastructure spending.
• Negative Sentiment: Google’s decision to move its AI-responsibility team outside DeepMind has prompted concerns about researcher independence and the company’s ability to identify risks in increasingly capable models. Calls for tighter U.S.-China AI rules add another layer of regulatory uncertainty.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, August 14th. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $379.00 price objective (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $415.55.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $339.10 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $348.88 and its 200-day simple moving average is $339.85. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $206.39 and a 12 month high of $404.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.03, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.31 earnings per share. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a $0.22 dividend. 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%.

Alphabet 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.