The Release of New Products Supports Smart Money’s Confidence in Google

Google also announced that Android 6.0 Marshmallow, the latest version of its mobile operating system, will begin rolling out to users next week. The new version sports better notifications, battery life improvements through more efficient power management, improved Google Now and Google Search features, and more detailed privacy controls. Google also announced that it plans to offer Project Fi, a wireless network that combines major cellular networks and Wi-Fi for just $20 per month on the Nexus 5X and Nexus 6P. Project Fi now works only with the older Nexus 6 phone.

The technology giant also unveiled a new, faster version of its content streaming stick, the Chromecast 2, which will be sold at the same price of the original Chromecast, $35. There is also a new version of the Chromecast application as users continue to swarm to online content consumption. Google also unveiled Chromecast Audio, a device that connects to speakers and streams audio from any Chromecast-connected device through Wi-Fi networks. The technology behemoth also unveiled a new family plan for Google Play Music which includes up to six different users for just $14.99 per month. Last but not the least, Google also previewed the Pixel C, a tablet powered by Android that is reminiscent of Microsoft’s Surface tablet.

Hedge funds from our database were positive on Google Inc (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the second quarter as there were 107 hedge funds with long positions in class C shares of the internet giant at the end of June, pushing it into our top 10 most popular stocks, even though the number of investors declined by one during the second quarter. The more telling metric, however, is the total value of hedge funds’ holdings in the stock, which went up by nearly 25% to $8.59 billion, representing 2.40% of all class C shares of the firm, despite a nearly 5% drop in the value of the stock in the second quarter. Moreover, 115 funds from our database amassed nearly $8.19 billion of Google’s class A stock, representing 2.20% of the outstanding stock. Andreas Halvorsen’s Viking Global owned 1.15 million class C shares of Google by the end of June, up by 37% on the quarter. Boykin Curry’s Eagle Capital Management owned 1.74 million class C shares, up by 53% from the end of March.

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