Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 43.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 112,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 85,439 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 3.4% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 7th largest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 17,667.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 51.7% during the second 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 during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew 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. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Alphabet News

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, 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 SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, 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 sold a total of 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Susquehanna raised their target price on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. New Street Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $357.46.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.5%

Shares of NASDAQ 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 has a 50-day moving average of $321.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $270.73. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, equities analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

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.