Suncoast Equity Management Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Suncoast Equity Management grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 181,860 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,678 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.4% of Suncoast Equity Management’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Suncoast Equity Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,210,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, S&T Bank PA lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $66,695,036 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

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%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $328.57 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $306.19 and a 200-day moving average price of $249.31. The stock has a market capitalization 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. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $330.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Citic Securities lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Roth Capital increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $265.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Susquehanna lifted 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.