CENTRAL TRUST Co Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

CENTRAL TRUST Co lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 277,450 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,096 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.4% of CENTRAL TRUST Co’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $67,448,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Moment Partners LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,039,000 after buying an additional 504 shares during the period. Brooktree Capital Management acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 13.9% in the third quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,277,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after purchasing an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $313.00 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $320.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $281.27. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $349.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.95, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. President Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.