Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 308,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,550 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.5% of Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $75,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of 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. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its position in 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 acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc raised 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 valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.0%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $328.57 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $306.19 and a 200-day moving average of $249.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week 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.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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 analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

More Alphabet News

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $3,383,884.14. This represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the business’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. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $66,695,036 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Susquehanna boosted their price target on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $288.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Loop Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “buy” rating and set a $315.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $323.19.

About Alphabet

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.