Tradewinds LLC. Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Tradewinds LLC. grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2,134.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 43,080 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.7% of Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Tradewinds LLC.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,984,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $4,298,572,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 73.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,388,775,000 after acquiring an additional 4,154,929 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17,547.9% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $731,331,000 after acquiring an additional 4,099,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 330.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,989,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $707,691,000 after acquiring an additional 3,062,590 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $328.55 on Monday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $316.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $261.38. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $341.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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%. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the business’s 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 in the company, valued at $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,211,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,945,705.60. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $69,365,318. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $340.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $350.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.13.

About Alphabet

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.