Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Trims Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 37,887 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,493 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,927,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,511,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,266 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,022,926,000 after purchasing an additional 441,177 shares in the last quarter. Sanders Capital LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 35,357,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,272,146,000 after purchasing an additional 2,117,990 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,503,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,588,323,000 after purchasing an additional 695,736 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $328.55 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $341.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $316.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $261.38. 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:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. DA Davidson set a $300.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.13.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the business’s 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 owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 225,187 shares of company stock worth $69,365,318. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key 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

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.