Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Has $6.83 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 26.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 28,087 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,912 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.2% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $54,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC boosted 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 valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S&T Bank PA grew its holdings in Alphabet by 40.2% during the second quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

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 Stock Up 1.0%

GOOGL opened at $328.57 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $330.83. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $306.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $249.31. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 225,187 shares of company stock worth $66,695,036. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citizens Jmp lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 31st. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. BNP Paribas initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.19.

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.