Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Buys 38,615 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,062,524 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,615 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $260,212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,914,730.12. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $66,695,036. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet has overtaken Apple to become the world’s second-most valuable public company, a market-cap milestone that signals investor confidence in Google’s AI-led growth story and may attract ETF flows and index-related buying. Google Claims Apple’s Spot on Most-Valuable-Companies List
• Positive Sentiment: Broker and media coverage has turned more bullish (upgrades and optimistic price-target notes), reinforcing momentum and giving investors confidence in further upside tied to Gemini/AI and search monetization. Alphabet Stock Gets an Upgrade. How Google Will Beat ChatGPT.
• Positive Sentiment: EU discussions reportedly spare Big Tech from the strictest aspects of a digital-rule overhaul, easing regulatory risk for Google’s ad and cloud businesses in Europe. Big Tech spared strict rules in EU digital rule overhaul
• Neutral Sentiment: EU antitrust regulators will rule on Alphabet’s $32B Wiz acquisition by Feb. 10 — a clear catalyst but with an uncertain outcome; approval would remove an overhang, while objections could delay or alter the deal. EU antitrust regulators to decide on Google’s Wiz deal by Feb 10
• Neutral Sentiment: Google and Character.AI reached settlements in lawsuits alleging chatbots harmed minors — this cuts litigation uncertainty but keeps reputation and product-safety issues on investors’ radars. Google and Character.AI to Settle Lawsuit Over Teenager’s Death
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (~$10.4M), a disclosed insider sale that slightly reduces his stake but appears routine and not an obvious signal of impaired fundamentals. SEC filing: Insider sale
• Negative Sentiment: Competitor dynamics: Nvidia hired a former Google marketing executive as CMO, underscoring intense competition for AI talent and marketing muscle in the AI infrastructure space — a subtle competitive headwind to watch. Nvidia Hires Google Veteran as Its First Chief Marketing Officer

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $325.44 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.09, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a 50 day moving average of $305.24 and a 200-day moving average of $247.60. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $330.32.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Susquehanna boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. CICC Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Alphabet from $236.00 to $268.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Argus raised their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $365.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $322.42.

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.