Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Acquires New Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,334,645 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $325,053,000. Alphabet comprises about 0.8% of Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Robbins Farley raised its stake in Alphabet by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. WestEnd Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 58.7% during the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the period. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

GOOG stock opened at $330.34 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $341.20. 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’s fifty day moving average is $312.04 and its 200 day moving average is $256.10. The firm has a market cap of $3.99 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given 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 payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 192,687 shares of company stock valued at $58,728,068. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. BNP Paribas started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have assigned a Buy rating, two have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.31.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major commercial validation — Apple’s decision to use Google’s Gemini to power the next-generation Siri is being treated as a high-margin licensing win and a distribution multiplier for Gemini; MarketBeat highlights this deal as a key catalyst behind Alphabet clearing a $4 trillion market cap. Alphabet Tops $4 Trillion Valuation as AI Momentum Runs HotMarketBeat: Alphabet Tops $4 Trillion Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum — DeepMind and Google product teams are working closely (DeepMind CEO says daily dialogue with Google CEO) as Gemini and other AI features (e.g., Personal Intelligence) accelerate integration across Google apps — supports revenue/monetization pathways. DeepMind CEO is talking to Google CEO ‘every day’ as lab ramps up competition with OpenAICNBC: DeepMind/Google collaboration
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and market momentum — Multiple analyst upgrades and higher price targets (Goldman, BofA, Wells Fargo, Cantor, Jefferies) plus bullish media commentary (including Jim Cramer) are supporting investor sentiment and inflows. Is Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) The Most Profitable US Stock to Buy?InsiderMonkey: analyst coverage & targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Commercial pilots & partnerships — Google will power agentic AI for Woolworths’ Olive chatbot in Australia later this year, a useful commercial test but limited near-term revenue impact. Do Woolworths shoppers want Google AI adding items to buy? We’ll soon find outTechXplore: Woolworths pilot
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector tailwinds — Large forecasts for AI spending boost the long-term thesis for hyperscalers, but they also imply higher capex and competitive intensity across cloud and GPU suppliers. NVDA, GOOGL, META: AI Spending Forecast to Hit $2.53 Trillion This YearTipRanks: AI spending forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk — Google asked a U.S. judge to pause an order forcing it to share data with rivals while it appeals an antitrust ruling; litigation outcomes could materially affect search economics and competitive positioning. Google asks US judge to defer order forcing it to share data while it appealsReuters: appeal to defer data-sharing order
• Negative Sentiment: AI training litigation — Major publishers are seeking to join a class-action suit alleging Google used copyrighted works to train AI models; potential damages, injunctions or limits on training data could raise costs and slow model development. Publishers seek to join lawsuit against Google over AI trainingReuters: publishers move to join lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling & operational constraints — Reports show heavy insider sales (including large Sundar Pichai stock disposals) and Alphabet warns U.S. electrical transmission bottlenecks are slowing data‑centre hookups, which could constrain capacity growth for cloud/AI workloads. Insider selling and lobbying disclosureQuiverQuant: insider sales / lobbying • Google says US transmission system is biggest challenge for connecting data centersReuters: data-center transmission constraints

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.