Sovran Advisors LLC Acquires 4,241 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sovran Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,241 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,401,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares in the last quarter. Brooktree Capital Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.9% during the third quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,277,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the second quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citic Securities upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $385.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at $725,942,020.50. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291 over the last 90 days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet News Roundup

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 Trading Down 2.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $322.86 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $321.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $271.29. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.