AlphaQuest LLC Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

AlphaQuest LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 85.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 439 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,572 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $107,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,179,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $730,481,906.96. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,224,380. The trade was a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,067,086 shares of company stock valued at $105,184,255. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and AI/cloud growth — Alphabet exceeded EPS and revenue expectations, Cloud revenue jumped ~48% and backlog expanded materially, supporting longer-term revenue and monetization from AI products. Alphabet’s Pullback: A Second Chance for Long-Term Investors?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism — Several firms raised price targets on GOOGL (noted lifts to $375 and $380), reflecting continued confidence in growth and upside vs. the recent pullback. Price Target Raised to $375 Price Target Raised to $380
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expansion — Waymo is deploying next‑gen Ojai robotaxis and using gig workers for door-closing operations, signaling commercial progress in autonomous mobility (long-term revenue optionality). Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong bond demand—but guardrails questioned — Alphabet’s recent global bond sale drew very strong demand (underscoring investor confidence), while commentary noted limited contractual protections for bondholders on a long‑dated issuance. This is liquidity/market-confidence positive but raises structural concerns for fixed‑income holders. Alphabet bonds’ lack of guardrails highlights investor confidence
• Neutral Sentiment: Century‑bond debate — Heavy demand for a 100‑year sterling bond signals long-duration appetite (positive for funding flexibility) but prompts caution about untested long‑dated issuance. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears Bond investors are betting on another 100 years of Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data appears unreliable — Reports show sudden increases but list zero shares and NaN changes (likely a data glitch); not a confirmed signal of rising short pressure. (internal short‑interest entries)
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probe into search ad auctions — European regulators are investigating Google’s ad-auction practices and pricing, which could lead to fines, operational constraints in Europe, or forced changes to ad platform mechanics. Google targeted by EU over its search advertising auction practices Google hit by fresh EU antitrust probe
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and AI arms‑race fears — Alphabet’s large 2026 CapEx outlook (~$175–185B) and the broader AI infrastructure spend among hyperscalers have raised investor concern about free‑cash‑flow strain and near‑term margin/return pressures; that theme contributed to short‑term selling after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings Mag 7 AI Arms Race: Heavy CapEx, FCF Strain
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness — Coverage notes that several mega‑cap tech names have softened (Magnificent Seven pressure), which amplifies selloffs in high‑multiple names like GOOGL even when fundamentals remain strong. Amazon Joins Microsoft in Bear Market

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. DA Davidson upped their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Arete Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Moffett Nathanson increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Loop Capital raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $320.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $361.64.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $305.72 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $321.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $274.40.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Alphabet 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.