Manhattan West Asset Management LLC Raises Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Manhattan West Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 92,251 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,854 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 5.5% of Manhattan West Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Manhattan West Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,968,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $338.46 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. The firm has a market cap of $4.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 17.00, a P/E/G ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $231.90 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $349.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $342.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.22 dividend. 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 is 4.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Wall Street Zen lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $515.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 price target (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Five 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 company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $420.19.

More 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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $2,232,808.20. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.