Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Trimmed by Ascent Group LLC

Ascent Group LLC trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150,062 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,797 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.3% of Ascent Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 14th biggest position. Ascent Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,480,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Truist Financial Corp increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,546,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $448,684,000 after buying an additional 56,295 shares in the last quarter. Moment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467 shares during the last quarter. Brooktree Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $352,000. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.9% during the third quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,277,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s market value climbed past Apple’s, reinforcing investor confidence that Google is regaining leadership among mega‑cap tech names and boosting sentiment for GOOGL shares. Alphabet’s market cap surpasses Apple’s (CNBC)
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts have been raising ratings and price targets on Alphabet into Q4/Q1, with MarketBeat and other outlets highlighting a wave of bullish revisions tied to AI progress and regulatory relief — a factor supporting further upside. 5 Stocks Wall Street Repriced Higher (MarketBeat)
• Positive Sentiment: Operational catalysts: recent coverage points to faster AI momentum (Gemini/model upgrades), a stronger cloud AI story and an AI chip/cloud positioning that could lift revenue mix and margins over time — these fundamentals underpin the bullish narrative. How Google Got Its Groove Back (WSJ) Alphabet’s AI Cloud Moment (Seeking Alpha)
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation discussions: commentators are debating whether GOOGL’s strong ~1‑year run makes it late to buy; elevated expectations increase sensitivity to any revenue or margin misses. Is It Too Late To Consider Alphabet? (Yahoo Finance)
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and reputational risk: Alphabet and Character.AI agreed to settle lawsuits tied to minors harmed after interacting with chatbots, including at least one tragic suicide — this raises potential legal costs, regulatory scrutiny of AI safety, and reputational pressures that could weigh on the stock if litigation or regulation expands. Google and Character.AI to Settle Lawsuit (NYT) Google, Character.AI to settle suits (CNBC)

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $322.05 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $328.83. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $304.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $247.06. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 1.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total transaction of $9,743,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,239,619 shares in the company, valued at approximately $671,437,776.20. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 192,687 shares of company stock valued at $56,255,711. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $306.00 price objective (up from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, November 20th. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $300.00 target price (up from $265.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $321.27.

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.