Modera Wealth Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Modera Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 97,214 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,124 shares during the quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,633,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $34,680.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,224,380. This trade represents a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock valued at $105,352,291. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $322.86 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $321.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $385.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.46.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q4 estimates with $113.8B revenue, $2.82 EPS, huge Google Cloud growth (48% y/y) and milestone annual revenue above $400B — evidence that AI and ads are driving durable top‑line momentum. Alphabet Crushes Earnings Again, Reports 48% Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini/product adoption and a surging cloud backlog (reported at ~$240B) support longer‑term revenue leverage from AI investments — a structural growth argument investors and many analysts are citing. Google goes from laggard to leader as it pulls ahead of OpenAI with stellar AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the quarter (e.g., Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBC, Needham, Mizuho), providing analyst support under the share price. Multiple analyst price target raises (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest data shows no meaningful short position change (reads as negligible/quiet on short‑selling activity), so moves are likely driven by flows and sentiment rather than a short squeeze.
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF/sector flows and inclusion chatter (new Big Tech ETFs) can amplify moves in GOOGL but are not company‑specific catalysts. Big Tech Core: New Burney ETF Packs Apple, Nvidia, Google, Broadcom Punch
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet guided to $175–$185B of capex for 2026 (aimed at AI compute and cloud), a shockingly large jump that has investors fretting about near‑term free cash flow and returns on incremental AI spend — the dominant proximate cause of recent weakness. Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending (CNBC)
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market narrative: fears about excessive AI capex are prompting a tech sell‑off (FactSet noted >$1T wiped from big‑tech), which weighs on Alphabet alongside company‑specific capex concerns. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was reported after the quarter, adding near‑term pressure on sentiment. Alphabet Shares Down After Insider Selling
• Negative Sentiment: Employee protests over Google Cloud contracts with immigration agencies pose reputational/legal risk that can create headline volatility. Google Workers Demand End to Cloud Services for Immigration Agencies

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.