Westpac Banking Corp Has $88.42 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Westpac Banking Corp trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.3% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 247,414 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,226 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 5.4% of Westpac Banking Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $88,418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets set a $465.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer raised their target price on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group cut their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Arete Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, DZ Bank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $420.19.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue growth and expanding margins continue to support Alphabet’s AI investment strategy. Supporters argue that cloud growth—reportedly up 82% year over year—could eventually justify the company’s much higher spending. Google Cloud growth article
• Positive Sentiment: A federal judge rejected a forced breakup of Google’s ad-tech business, limiting the immediate structural risk to Alphabet. The company will instead face behavioral remedies, although the ad-network business recently contracted. Google ad-business ruling
• Positive Sentiment: New AI features in Gmail, Docs and Keep, along with continued Gemini development, could improve user engagement and strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position in generative AI. Rosenblatt also reaffirmed a buy rating with a $410 price target. Google AI product launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share on September 14 to shareholders of record on September 4, providing a modest income component but unlikely to materially change the investment case. Alphabet dividend article
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet raised 2026 capital-spending guidance to approximately $195 billion–$205 billion. Second-quarter free cash flow turned negative as capital expenditures reached $44.9 billion, raising concerns that AI infrastructure spending may take years to generate adequate returns. Alphabet cloud margins and AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also concerned about execution: Gemini 3.5 Pro reportedly remained delayed, while the company faces multiple securities-fraud investigations and continued scrutiny over its ad-tech practices. These issues add legal and competitive risk to an already expensive AI buildout. Gemini delay article

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $338.46 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $231.90 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $349.02 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $342.61.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.