Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 14.3% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 832,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 138,749 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 2.4% of Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $239,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWC Advisors LLC. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. CWC Advisors LLC. now owns 4,345 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,249,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Evexia Wealth LLC now owns 824 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $237,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Guardian Investment Management lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. Guardian Investment Management now owns 3,809 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,095,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the first quarter. Ballast Rock Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,543 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,169,000 after purchasing an additional 402 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lincoln Capital Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.5% in the first quarter. Lincoln Capital Corp now owns 27,634 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,946,000 after buying an additional 674 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $345.04 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $368.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $332.69. The firm has a market cap of $4.18 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.32, a PEG ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $167.55 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Evercore raised their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Bank of America raised their target price on Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet will join the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Verizon, which is a prestige win and may attract new index demand. Alphabet replacing Verizon in Dow Jones Industrial Average index
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and recent coverage continue to highlight strong demand for Google Cloud and Alphabet’s AI infrastructure opportunities, reinforcing the long-term growth case. Alphabet Rides on Accelerating AI Infrastructure Demand: What’s Ahead?
• Neutral Sentiment: Google delayed the launch of Gemini 3.5 Pro to July while it continues tuning the model based on early feedback, which suggests progress but also a slower rollout than expected. Google delays Gemini 3.5 Pro launch to July as it tweaks its new frontier AI model
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s YouTube settled a lawsuit over alleged social-media harm to children, removing a legal overhang but without enough detail to gauge a major financial impact. Google’s YouTube settles with plaintiff ahead of second California trial over social media harm to children, attorneys say
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that top AI researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are leaving Google for Anthropic add to concerns about talent retention and competition in frontier AI. AI researchers continue to leave Google for its rivals
• Negative Sentiment: Broader coverage also points to rising competition in AI search and fears that Google’s core search business could face pressure as users and rivals shift toward alternative AI-driven tools. Google’s online dominance Is showing signs of cracking in AI era

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.