Chesley Taft & Associates LLC Raises Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 105,166 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,541 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.1% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $25,566,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after purchasing an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,780,875,000 after purchasing an additional 503,306 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud locked an expanded, multibillion-dollar strategic deal with Palo Alto Networks — reported by Reuters as “approaching $10 billion” — which materially strengthens Cloud revenue outlook and security services momentum. Google Cloud lands deal with Palo Alto Networks
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target to $350 and kept a Buy rating — a notable analyst upgrade that signals upward earnings/valuation expectations and supports short‑term buying interest. Citigroup adjusts price target on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Google reports strong talent flows in AI — ~20% of 2025 AI software engineer hires were “boomerangs” (ex‑employees) — which investors view as a competitive advantage in the AI arms race vs. OpenAI/Anthropic/Meta. Google’s boomerang year
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/trading signals flagged a Power Inflow alert (benzinga), which can attract short‑term momentum traders but is not a fundamental catalyst. GOOG Hits Intraday High After Key Trading Signal
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage and thematic stories (Zacks, cloud lists, MarketBeat pieces) are keeping retail/institutional attention on GOOGL as a core cloud and AI holding — supporting flows but not an immediate earnings surprise. Alphabet is a trending stock (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: A Spanish consumer group has launched preliminary legal action alleging sensitive data collection and privacy violations — an escalation that could lead to fines or longer-term compliance costs. Spanish consumer group seeks to sue Google in data row
• Negative Sentiment: Mexico’s antitrust authority ordered Google to drop certain Android restrictions — another regulatory action that can pressure mobile‑related revenue/margins and raises the risk of further regional remedies. Mexico’s antitrust commission resolves Android case
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider stock sales were disclosed this week (CEO Sundar Pichai and other executives/directors sold shares), which can be viewed negatively by some investors even if sales are routine or for diversification/tax reasons. SEC filing: Sundar Pichai insider sale

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total transaction of $32,401.32. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,104 shares in the company, valued at $5,750,916.64. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $184,914.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 3,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,872.04. The trade was a 13.29% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 226,128 shares of company stock valued at $63,183,331. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

Alphabet stock opened at $307.16 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $328.83. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $289.19 and a 200 day moving average of $234.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market cap of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Citic Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Citizens Jmp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $290.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, September 19th. China Renaissance increased their target price on Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $315.90.

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.