Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Acquired by Plato Investment Management Ltd

Plato Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 143,346 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,240 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.9% of Plato Investment Management Ltd’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $50,929,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud and AI remain the main growth drivers. Rising Cloud revenue, AI adoption and a reported $514 billion backlog strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position against Microsoft and Amazon, although capacity constraints could limit near-term execution. Rising Cloud Revenue Strengthens Alphabet Against MSFT & AMZN
• Positive Sentiment: New Gemini and AI Mode features could increase user engagement and monetization. Google is expanding AI Mode to track flight prices and assist with hotel bookings, while reviews of its personal-intelligence tools suggest broader consumer adoption. Employees are also reportedly testing a next-generation Gemini Flash model. Google’s AI Mode can now track flight prices, help book hotels, and more
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment and technical momentum remain favorable. Brokerages maintain an average “Buy” recommendation, while technical commentary points to support above approximately $340. Alphabet’s valuation, margins and cash generation are viewed as attractive relative to many AI peers. Alphabet Receives Average Recommendation of Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s custom-chip strategy is creating demand for AI infrastructure. Marvell’s large Google-related AI-chip opportunity highlights Alphabet’s willingness to invest in proprietary computing capacity, potentially supporting long-term performance and reducing reliance on outside suppliers. Marvell’s Google AI-chip opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Google changed its European spam and site-reputation policy. The adjustment is intended to address European Commission concerns and reduce the risk of an antitrust fine, but it may affect how Google ranks publisher content and reflects ongoing regulatory pressure. Google changes spam policy in EU to avert antitrust fine
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risks continue to weigh on the investment case. Multiple law firms announced securities-fraud investigations, while Google agreed to a $353 million settlement with UK app developers. These announcements do not establish wrongdoing but could create financial and reputational costs. Google agrees to settle UK app developers’ lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: The FTC is reportedly considering action involving YouTube. The investigation concerns account suspensions and possible consumer-protection violations, adding another regulatory overhang for Alphabet. US FTC probes YouTube over social media policies

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 451,843 shares of company stock valued at $12,343,852 in the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Dbs Bank lifted their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $420.19.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $346.59 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $206.20 and a 1 year high of $408.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $349.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $341.86.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders 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 payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

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.