Marathon Asset Management Ltd Sells 136,291 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Marathon Asset Management Ltd reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 26.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 377,542 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 136,291 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 3.4% of Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Marathon Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $91,780,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc grew its stake in Alphabet by 77.6% during the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 348 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Samsung plans to double the number of mobile devices using Google’s Gemini to about 800 million units this year — a major distribution win that expands Gemini’s user base, strengthens Google’s position in mobile AI, and could boost demand for Google’s AI services and ecosystem. Exclusive: Samsung to double mobile devices powered by Google’s Gemini to 800 mln units this year
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat notes Alphabet led Wall Street upgrades in 2025 as AI (Gemini 3), Search/YouTube monetization, cloud strength and growing external demand for its TPUs drove sentiment — that analyst momentum supports further buying interest. MarketBeat’s Top 3 Most Upgraded Stocks of 2025
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage in The Motley Fool highlights Alphabet as a top AI pick for 2026, pointing to the company’s diversified AI exposure (search, cloud, YouTube, Gemini) — useful framing for long-term investors wanting broad AI exposure. 3 Artificial Intelligence Stocks to Buy in 2026 That Could Be Better Picks Than Palantir
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage noting Warren Buffett/Berkshire’s regret over missing investment in Google serves as an institutional validation datapoint that can strengthen investor confidence. Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway on why Google is the only tech investment they regret not making
• Neutral Sentiment: Retail buzz (X, r/WallStreetBets) has featured GOOGL among the most talked-about names this week — that can amplify short-term volume and volatility but is not a direct fundamental catalyst. 5 Stocks Investors Couldn’t Stop Buzzing About This Week: TGT, TSM, GOOG And More
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/strategy write-ups list Alphabet near buy points for some investors — signals that traders may be positioning for further upside if earnings/AI narratives hold. Google, Other AI Stocks Trade Near Buy Points. One Named ‘Top Stock’ For 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst/short-form critiques argue Alphabet’s equity looks expensive, warning that stretched valuation could limit near-term upside or amplify pullbacks if growth disappoints. Alphabet’s Equity Is Way Overpriced
• Negative Sentiment: Insider activity: an Alphabet director sold about $31,972 of stock — a small-volume sale but something traders often note when weighing near-term sentiment. Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director Sells $31,971.90 in Stock

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $306.00 price objective (up previously from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. DA Davidson reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Loop Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $260.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Four investment 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $317.76.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 192,687 shares of company stock worth $56,255,711 in the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $315.15 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $301.53 and a 200-day simple moving average of $244.48. The company has a market cap of $3.80 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $328.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 is 8.28%.

Alphabet 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.