Range Advisory LLC Grows Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Range Advisory LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 11.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 27,894 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,965 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.2% of Range Advisory LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest holding. Range Advisory LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,856,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Providence Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,508 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after buying an additional 29 shares during the period. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. One Charles Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 4,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,390,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the period. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Wisconsin Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,223 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $785,000 after acquiring an additional 29 shares during the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. now owns 1,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $499,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financial Enhancement Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.3% during the 1st quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were 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 owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. DA Davidson decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $350.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.55.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $330.39 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $345.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $341.69. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $236.58 and a 52-week high of $404.47. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.21. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.31 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet announced a partnership with Morgan State University to establish an AI campus, potentially expanding long-term talent development, research access and adoption of Google Cloud and Gemini. Alphabet Morgan State University AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched a dedicated Gemini app for Windows PCs, making its AI assistant more accessible and increasing the opportunity to drive usage across consumer devices and services. Gemini Windows app
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned €13 billion investment in Finnish AI infrastructure, alongside a long-term agreement to purchase power from a nuclear plant, could provide reliable, lower-cost electricity for data centers and support Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube. Google Finland AI infrastructure investment
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investment commentary continue to highlight Alphabet’s cloud growth, more than 20% revenue growth and strong recent earnings as evidence that the company can fund substantial AI investment while maintaining attractive profitability. Alphabet return on invested capital and cloud growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest was listed at zero shares, unchanged from the prior report, so the data provide no meaningful evidence of short-covering pressure or growing bearish positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on the cost of Alphabet’s AI buildout. Estimates that AI capital expenditures could reach roughly $200 billion have raised concerns about pressure on free cash flow, even though the stock’s valuation is viewed as reasonable. Alphabet AI capital expenditures
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s new Muse AI agent has renewed concerns that autonomous assistants could bypass traditional search pages and reduce Google search advertising opportunities. ARK Invest’s decision to sell approximately $28 million of Alphabet and buy Meta added to the competitive sentiment. Meta Muse competition
• Negative Sentiment: Potential regulation could increase infrastructure costs: proposed U.S. legislation would require large data-center users to pay the full incremental cost of power-grid upgrades, while Finnish officials have warned that Google’s expansion could strain electricity supply. Data Center Fair Share Act

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known as the parent company of Google. It was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring intended to separate Google’s core internet businesses from a collection of other ventures. Google remains Alphabet’s largest business and serves users, advertisers, businesses and developers worldwide.

Google’s principal products and services include its internet search engine, online advertising platforms, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Photos.