Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Reduced by City Holding Co.

City Holding Co. lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 108,023 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,515 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.3% of City Holding Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,260,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after buying an additional 10,843,853 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after buying an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Alphabet by 201.3% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,153,824,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374,542 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Melius Research lifted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. China Renaissance lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $390.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Oppenheimer raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 189,309 shares of company stock worth $57,724,770. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $335.84 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $309.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $252.67. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $340.49. The company has a market cap of $4.05 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.12, a PEG ratio of 1.85 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during 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 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major strategic wins for Gemini — Apple has chosen Google’s Gemini as the foundation for next‑generation Siri and broader device integrations, giving Alphabet unmatched distribution and a potential licensing revenue stream that underpins the recent rally. Why Apple Chose Google to Power the Future of AI
• Positive Sentiment: Product commercialization accelerating — Google launched a Personal Intelligence beta in the Gemini app (and is rolling Gemini features into Gmail), signaling faster product rollouts and clearer paths to monetize AI across Google’s services. Google launches Personal Intelligence in Gemini app
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and valuation milestone — Alphabet surpassed a $4 trillion market cap and received buy‑side bullishness (including a Bank of America price target raise), which supports further multiple expansion and momentum chasing. Alphabet Tops $4 Trillion Valuation
• Neutral Sentiment: Supply chain / hardware moves — Reports Google will develop and manufacture high‑end phones in Vietnam this year; long term this can diversify supply chains but it’s early and capex/timing make the near‑term impact modest. Google to develop, manufacture smartphones in Vietnam
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector dynamics — Articles on data‑infrastructure winners (e.g., Pure Storage) and Microsoft’s retail AI moves highlight rising demand for data centers and competition across the AI stack; these trends are broadly supportive for Alphabet’s cloud/AI TAM but also signal intensifying competition and higher capital intensity. Best Growth Stocks to Buy in 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Power and grid bottlenecks — Google executives say U.S. electrical transmission constraints and decade‑plus wait times to connect new data centers are the biggest obstacle to scaling, which could slow capacity expansion and raise deployment/capex risk. Google says US transmission system is biggest challenge
• Negative Sentiment: App‑store / reputational pressure — A coalition is urging Google to remove X and Grok from app stores, creating potential regulatory/PR friction around content moderation and platform responsibilities that could lead to policy scrutiny or compliance costs. Women’s groups call on Apple, Google to drop X and Grok

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.