Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Acquires 4,279 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,279 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.9% of Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,552,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst actions and raised targets have lifted sentiment — RBC reaffirmed its “buy” rating, Needham kept a buy with a $330 target, Raymond James upgraded the stock, and at least one shop lifted its price target to $390, supporting higher valuations. MarketScreener: RBC remains its buy rating Alphabet Price Target Raised to $390
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile portfolio activity (the “Pelosi” filing) signaled continued conviction in large-cap tech/AI exposure via option-based leverage — a bullish sign that large investors are maintaining exposure to Alphabet while optimizing capital. Pelosi’s Bullish 2026 Buy List: AI, Power & Dividends
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s VC arm participated in a $200M funding round for AI video startup Synthesia, reinforcing the company’s continued strategic bets in the AI ecosystem and potential downstream product/partnership benefits for Google Cloud and AI services. Nvidia and Alphabet VC arms back Synthesia
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing Magnificent Seven coverage and bullish AI narratives continue to underpin market interest in large-cap AI leaders like Alphabet, but these are thematic tailwinds rather than company-specific catalysts. Seeking Alpha: Alphabet’s Big Rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro and calendar risks (Fed decision, major tech earnings this week) are creating market-wide volatility that could affect GOOGL’s near-term moves independent of fundamentals. Nasdaq futures in the red ahead of big week
• Negative Sentiment: Google agreed to a preliminary $68M settlement in a class-action suit alleging its Assistant improperly recorded users — a modest but negative headline that adds legal/PR noise ahead of earnings (judge approval required). Google Agrees to Settle Class Action Lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai sold roughly $10–11M of Alphabet shares recently (reported ahead of the Feb. 4 earnings date). Insider sales can be interpreted as routine diversification but may create short-term concern among some investors. Sundar Pichai Offloads Alphabet Shares

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $346.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Hsbc Global Res raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wedbush raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $350.00 to $360.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $260.00 to $320.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 222,409 shares of company stock valued at $68,564,532. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $333.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $316.62 and a 200-day moving average of $261.78. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $340.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

About Alphabet

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.