Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 412,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,431 shares during the period. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $100,390,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic cloud partnerships expanding addressable market — Google announced a deal with Sea Ltd to build AI tools for e‑commerce and gaming, which supports Google Cloud revenue growth in Southeast Asia and demonstrates enterprise demand for its AI stack. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum — Google is rolling Gemini‑powered, music‑focused generative‑AI features (also showing up at competitors), indicating faster consumer AI adoption that could boost engagement and future monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional support & analyst upgrades — recent 13F activity and analyst price‑target increases (and MarketBeat coverage) signal long‑term investor conviction that can underpin the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI infrastructure arms race — NVIDIA–Meta mega‑deal and hyperscaler capex plans validate AI demand but raise competitive and capital‑intensity questions for Google; this is demand‑positive but increases the investment bar. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet exploring chip/partner strategies — WSJ reports Google is weighing ways to use its balance sheet to better compete with chip suppliers, a strategic move that could reduce long‑run costs or distract management depending on execution. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — recent disclosed sales by CEO Sundar Pichai and senior exec John Kent Walker (multi‑million dollar sales) can sap near‑term sentiment even if routine for compensation/liquidity reasons. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Security/legal risk — indictment of three engineers accused of stealing Google trade secrets and sending data to Iran raises potential IP, litigation and reputational risks that investors will watch. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI rotation/profit‑taking — some prominent managers have trimmed AI positions in recent 13F filings, which contributes to episodic pressure on hyperscaler multiples. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. New Street Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. China Renaissance increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Three 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $365.86.

Alphabet Stock Up 4.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $314.98 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $320.32 and its 200 day moving average is $279.46. The company has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet 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 sale, the director owned 20,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,325,999.52. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at $3,337,229.80. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.