Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stock Position Boosted by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,223,730 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 18,106 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $302,420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Inspire Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Interactive Financial Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $244,000. JCIC Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $22,886,000. Intrua Financial LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 34.2% in the third quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 8,526 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,077,000 after purchasing an additional 2,172 shares during the period. Finally, Axecap Investments LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $5,870,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major analyst upgrade and higher price targets highlight AI-driven upside — Raymond James raised GOOG to “Strong Buy” and boosted its price target (street chatter also shows multiple firms lifting targets), supporting investor confidence in Alphabet’s AI strategy and Google Cloud momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Big investors adding shares — Baillie Gifford disclosed adding ~1.19M GOOGL shares in the latest 13F filing, a sign of continued institutional accumulation that can underpin price support. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI ecosystem wins — Apple reportedly will use Google’s Gemini to power the next Siri, expanding Gemini’s distribution and reinforcing Alphabet’s AI moat and monetization pathways. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage remains focused on AI and technicals — Several outlets and analysts are publishing bullish previews and technical trading ideas (including MarketBeat, Zacks, TipRanks), which keeps interest high but doesn’t guarantee near-term moves. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo expansion vs. scrutiny — Waymo launched robotaxis in Miami (expansion signal), which can drive future growth for Alphabet’s autonomy segment but also raises operational/legal exposure as deployment scales. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: NTSB opens probe into Waymo after robotaxis passed stopped school buses — A federal safety investigation into repeated illegal passes in Austin (reported incidents across states) creates regulatory and reputational risk for Waymo and, by extension, Alphabet. That headline is the clearest near-term negative catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Antitrust litigation risk persists — A federal judge allowed a consumer antitrust lawsuit over Google Search to proceed, keeping legal exposure and potential remedies on the radar for investors assessing longer-term regulatory risk. Article Title

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOG. KeyCorp reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $315.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $326.13.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 approximately $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total value of $31,971.90. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,205 shares in the company, valued at $5,706,357.25. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $69,365,318. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of GOOG opened at $328.55 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $316.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $261.38. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. 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 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $341.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 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 company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company 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%.

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.