Provident Trust Co. Has $827.92 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Provident Trust Co. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,405,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,982 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 13.8% of Provident Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $827,922,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its position in Alphabet by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 37.9% in the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S&T Bank PA boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% during the second quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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. This trade represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at $725,942,020.50. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock valued at $105,352,291 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.5%

GOOGL stock opened at $322.86 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $321.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $270.73. 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 released 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. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. UBS Group set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 target price for the company. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up previously from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Finally, Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price objective on Alphabet to $315.00 in a report on Monday, October 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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

Alphabet Company Profile

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.