Advisors Asset Management Inc. Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 607,626 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,682 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 2.5% of Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Advisors Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $147,714,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.6% during the second quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 4,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $862,000 after buying an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its position in Alphabet by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. China Renaissance lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. DZ Bank restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC upped their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities 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, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.57.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total value of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,337,229.80. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is folding its robotics-software unit Intrinsic into Google, signalling tighter integration of robotics/physical AI efforts and likely faster commercialization of automation tools. Former Alphabet ‘moonshot’ robotics company Intrinsic is folding into Google
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo is expanding robotaxi testing to Chicago and Charlotte, accelerating route expansion and potential near-term revenue scale for Alphabet’s autonomous-vehicle unit. Waymo to begin testing in Chicago and Charlotte
• Positive Sentiment: Samsung’s S26 demonstrates deeper adoption of Google’s Gemini (autonomously operating third‑party apps), which supports Gemini’s distribution thesis and monetization pathway across devices. Samsung’s S26 gives an advance look at what the Google-powered Apple Siri could do
• Positive Sentiment: Google announced a major 1.9GW clean-power backing for a new data center including a 100‑hour iron‑air battery — a long-duration storage deal that lowers carbon and energy risk for AI datacenter ops. Google’s new 1.9GW clean energy deal includes massive 100-hour battery
• Positive Sentiment: Loop Capital raised its GOOGL price target to $355, and Wells Fargo issued an upgrade — analyst support that can boost sentiment and flows into the stock. Loop Capital Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $355.00
• Positive Sentiment: Google says it disrupted a China‑linked hacking group that attacked dozens of organizations globally — a security win that reduces operational risk and demonstrates enterprise trustworthiness. Google disrupts Chinese-linked hackers that attacked 53 groups globally
• Neutral Sentiment: February short‑interest data in feeds appears erroneous (shows 0 shares / NaN changes); no clear short‑squeeze signal from that report. (data entry)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure in Europe: Reuters reports Google will test showing rivals’ vertical search results more prominently to try to avoid an EU fine — highlights ongoing antitrust risk that can cap multiples. Exclusive: Google to test changes to search results, source says as EU fine looms
• Negative Sentiment: Russia fined Google ~22 million roubles (~$288k) over VPN distribution — a small hit monetarily but another reminder of geopolitical/legal friction in certain markets. Russia fines Google for distributing VPN services, TASS reports
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of insider selling were flagged in headlines, which can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if the transactions are not material to long‑term fundamentals. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.1% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $313.00 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $320.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $281.27. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.95, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during 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%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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 $0.21 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 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.