Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC Purchases 19,318 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 43.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,336 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,318 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 10.9% of Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Ridgecrest Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $22,634,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the second quarter. Blue Bell Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,490,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. SMART Wealth LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 14.2% during the 2nd quarter. SMART Wealth LLC now owns 6,627 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,368,000 after acquiring an additional 824 shares during the last quarter. WPG Advisers LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 25.2% during the 2nd quarter. WPG Advisers LLC now owns 4,715 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,685,000 after acquiring an additional 950 shares during the last quarter. All Stars Investment Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $572,000. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd raised its position in Alphabet by 13.4% in the 2nd quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 80,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,919,000 after purchasing an additional 9,574 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google is testing Gemini 3.8 Flash internally, suggesting a near-term launch of a faster, lower-cost AI model that could strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position and improve AI product monetization. Google employees are already testing the next Gemini Flash AI model
• Positive Sentiment: Google expanded AI Mode with flight-price tracking, hotel booking assistance and loyalty-point comparisons. The additions could increase user engagement and protect Google’s role in travel-related advertising and transactions. Google’s AI Mode can now track flight prices, help book hotels, and more
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary remains favorable, citing approximately 14.4% advertising growth in the second quarter, AI-enhanced Search and YouTube tools, diversified revenue and a lower valuation than some large technology peers. GOOGL Rides on Strong Advertising Revenues
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly increased its Alphabet position by 83% to about $37.8 billion, providing a high-profile vote of confidence in Alphabet’s search, cloud and AI growth prospects. Berkshire Boosts Its Bet
• Positive Sentiment: Barret Zoph, a prominent AI researcher and Thinking Machines co-founder, is joining Google as a research vice president. The hire may help address concerns about Google’s recent loss of senior AI talent. Barret Zoph is now at Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Google joined more than 100 technology companies calling for coordinated defenses against AI-related cyber threats. The initiative supports responsible AI adoption but has limited immediate financial impact. Companies call for action against rogue AI
• Negative Sentiment: The FTC is reportedly nearing a potential lawsuit over YouTube account suspensions and alleged consumer-protection violations, adding regulatory uncertainty around the platform. FTC probes YouTube over social media policies
• Negative Sentiment: Google agreed to pay £260 million, or about $353 million, to settle a UK lawsuit brought by app developers, highlighting continuing legal exposure related to its app-distribution practices. Google agrees to settle UK app developers’ lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms announced investigations into possible securities-law violations involving Alphabet, which could increase headline risk despite the notices containing no finding of wrongdoing. Pomerantz investor alert
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI infrastructure spending remains a concern: servers represented roughly 60% of technical infrastructure investment, while Nvidia-based server prices may rise more than 15%, potentially pressuring capital efficiency and free cash flow. Alphabet infrastructure spending and Nvidia server prices

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Pivotal Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 price target (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $420.19.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $340.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.17 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $206.20 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $350.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $341.71.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its 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. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 451,843 shares of company stock valued at $12,343,852. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Company 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.