Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S. cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 0.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,407,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,284 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 6.5% of Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. Lazard Freres Gestion S.A.S.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $342,250,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Breakwater Investment Management boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Breakwater Investment Management now owns 4,228 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,028,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $983,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% in the third quarter. Contravisory Investment Management Inc. now owns 1,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $382,000 after purchasing an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the third quarter. Wallington Asset Management LLC now owns 3,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $808,000 after buying an additional 45 shares during the period. Finally, LongView Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the third quarter. LongView Wealth Management now owns 3,817 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $928,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $315.00 price target (up from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Citic Securities upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $390.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, CICC Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.19.
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at $13,531,453.08. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $66,695,036. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.
Alphabet Trading Up 1.0%
NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $328.57 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $330.83. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $306.19 and a 200-day simple moving average of $249.31.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 currently 8.28%.
Alphabet News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: AI & advertising momentum: Analysts and media posit that Alphabet’s Gemini/AI-search progress and a strong advertising engine are driving a renewed rally and expectations that the company can join the $4 trillion market-cap group. Prediction: This Artificial Intelligence Stock Will Become a Member of the $4 Trillion Club in 2026
- Positive Sentiment: Market-cap milestone: Alphabet has overtaken Apple to become the world’s second-most valuable public company — a status shift that can attract index/ETF flows and underpins momentum. Google Claims Apple’s Spot on Most-Valuable-Companies List
- Positive Sentiment: Wall Street upgrades: Multiple analysts have raised price targets and issued bullish notes heading into 2026, reinforcing institutional demand and supporting higher valuations. Analyst revises Google stock price target for the next 12 months
- Neutral Sentiment: Wiz acquisition pending EU decision: The EU will decide on Alphabet’s $32B Wiz buy by Feb. 10 — resolution will remove a major overhang but could bring remedies or conditions. EU antitrust regulators to decide on Google’s Wiz deal by February 10
- Neutral Sentiment: Lawsuit settlements on AI chatbots: Alphabet and Character.AI settled suits tied to minors’ harm, which reduces immediate legal uncertainty but keeps reputational and regulatory scrutiny active. Google and Character.AI to Settle Lawsuit Over Teenager’s Death
- Negative Sentiment: App-store pressure from U.S. senators: Three Democratic senators urged Apple and Google to suspend Elon Musk’s X and Grok apps after allegations that Grok-enabled image generation facilitated sexualized images of minors — this directly implicates Google’s Play Store and could invite political/regulatory attention. Grok and X should be suspended from Apple, Google app stores, Democratic senators say
- Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (SEC filing). The sale is small relative to his holdings but can be viewed negatively by some market participants. Sundar Pichai stock sale filing
- Negative Sentiment: Talent poaching: Nvidia hired a senior Google marketing executive as CMO — a signal that top talent is mobile amid fierce AI competition, which could concern investors about retention. Nvidia Hires Google Veteran as Its First Chief Marketing Officer
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.
Further Reading
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