Ameritas Advisory Services LLC Grows Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Ameritas Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 33,962 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,339 shares during the period. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,272,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% in the second quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $302.82 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $321.41 and a 200-day simple moving average of $277.73. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $350.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given 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 presently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google I/O set for May 19–20; company is widely expected to unveil its first smart AI glasses later in 2026 — a new hardware/AI catalyst that could expand monetization and ecosystem stickiness. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud momentum remains a growth engine — recent reports highlight ~48% cloud revenue growth and expanding backlog, supporting upside to long‑term revenue and enterprise AI demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buyers also showed conviction — Royal Bank of Canada added materially (~21% increase) to its GOOGL position in recent 13F filings. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo faced congressional scrutiny over remote assistance but defended its practices and said remote agents haven’t been used to move robotaxis on public roads — regulatory risk remains watchable but not immediate earnings pressure. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Some analysts and outlets are cautious/neutral on near‑term upside (Monness and others maintain neutral views), reflecting profit‑taking after a strong run. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple high‑profile investors trimmed GOOGL in recent 13F filings — notable reductions include Ameriprise, First Pacific Advisors, Northern Trust and Veritas, signaling institutional rebalancing that can add selling pressure. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile managers also signaled reduced exposure — Bill Ackman trimmed his Alphabet position and Terry Smith reportedly cut his stake roughly in half, a negative sentiment signal for momentum investors. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: MarketBeat and other commentary point to short‑term selling tied to expected heavy CapEx (AI compute & data center buildout) and broader software/tech rotation — investors are treating higher capex guidance as a near‑term earnings/valuation headwind despite long‑term upside. Read More.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total transaction of $184,038.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 20,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,325,999.52. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,032,408 shares of company stock worth $94,926,707. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, January 5th. Loop Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $343.90.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.