First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. Has $7.55 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 31,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,413 shares during the quarter. First Fiduciary Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,857,017,000 after purchasing an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,780,875,000 after purchasing an additional 503,306 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google and Apple are adding music-focused generative-AI features to core apps, showing Alphabet’s AI tech is moving into mainstream consumer experiences that can drive engagement and ad/licensing opportunities. Google Gemini, Apple add music-focused generative AI features
• Positive Sentiment: Google will develop AI tools with Sea Ltd for e-commerce and gaming in Southeast Asia — a tie-up that expands Google Cloud and AI reach in high-growth markets, boosting potential cloud revenue. Google, Shopee-owner Sea to develop AI tools for e-commerce, gaming
• Positive Sentiment: Industry mega-deals like the NVIDIA–Meta expansion reinforce massive, multiyear demand for AI compute — a tailwind for Google Cloud (inference/deployment demand) as hyperscalers lock in infrastructure spending. NVIDIA and Meta Deepen Their AI Alliance
• Positive Sentiment: Big investors remain supportive: Berkshire Hathaway kept its Alphabet stake in recent filings and other high-profile investors (e.g., David Tepper) have increased exposure — signals of institutional confidence in Alphabet’s cloud/AI strategy. Berkshire & AI Hyperscalers: Buffett Holds GOOGL, Dumps AMZN
• Neutral Sentiment: Booking Holdings’ stock-split/earnings story spotlights Google’s Travel/AI booking capabilities — the piece underscores competitive dynamics (Google can disintermediate travel booking) but it’s more relevant as industry context than an immediate revenue swing for Alphabet. Booking Holdings Split: The Catalyst Wall Street Didn’t See Coming
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director John Hennessy sold 600 shares (filed in mid-February) — a small but visible insider sale that can amplify short-term selling narratives. Alphabet Director John Hennessy Sells 600 Shares
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo/regulatory and operational noise: New York regulatory shifts and scrutiny around remote-assistance in robotaxis constrain Waymo’s expansion and keep a regulatory overhang on Alphabet’s AV ambitions. New York Gov. Hochul drops robotaxi service proposal for outside NYC
• Negative Sentiment: Service reliability and cost concerns: A YouTube outage and commentary about Alphabet’s heavy CapEx for AI compute contribute to short-term profit-taking and worries about near-term margins. YouTube outage hits over 32,000 users

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Daiwa Securities Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. UBS Group set a $348.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Susquehanna lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $302.85 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $349.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $320.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $277.46. The firm has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’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 owned 20,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,325,999.52. This represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total transaction of $10,893,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,179,372 shares in the company, valued at $730,481,906.96. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 2,079,982 shares of company stock worth $109,267,889 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.