Artisan Partners Limited Partnership Sells 300,223 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 34.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 559,883 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 300,223 shares during the period. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $136,360,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,697,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 7.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 594,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $105,540,000 after buying an additional 41,132 shares during the period. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.7% in the second quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 3,134 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $556,000 after buying an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.4% in the second quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.4%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $311.43 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10. 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 fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $350.15. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $321.49 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $283.93.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the company’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 sale, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,211,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,112,380 shares of company stock worth $119,112,888 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded AI image generator with faster performance and better text handling — reinforces product leadership for Gemini/search integrations and helps drive user engagement across Google services. Google launches Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly struck a multibillion-dollar deal to rent its AI chips (TPUs) to Meta — a direct revenue and margin-positive outcome from Alphabet’s AI infrastructure investments. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is securing power supply agreements for data centers (deals with AES and Xcel), which reduces execution risk for its AI/cloud buildout and supports continued capacity expansion. Alphabet Secures Power Deals
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data, opening commercial opportunities for Google Maps and Waymo in a market previously restricted — potential revenue and product expansion tailwind. South Korea approves Google bid
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy investors continue to add to Alphabet: notable buying by billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was reported — an endorsement that can support sentiment among long-term institutional investors. Druckenmiller buys Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage and buy ratings remain favorable (recent upgrades and positive notes on cloud/AI), supporting longer-term upside expectations even after concerns about spending. MarketBeat coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest updates in available feeds show anomalous/zero reporting and NaN changes — appears to be noisy data and unlikely to be driving today’s move. (Data entries flagged as 0/NaN.)
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition authorities opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — a regulatory risk that could pressure ad margins or lead to fines/operational changes in Europe. Belgian watchdog probe
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure intensified after OpenAI raised massive funding with Amazon/Nvidia/Microsoft as backers — concentrates AI competition and could blunt parts of Google’s enterprise opportunity or pricing power. OpenAI record funding report
• Negative Sentiment: Investor cautions: critics (Michael Burry, some options trade services) have flagged Alphabet’s aggressive AI capex and warned of margin pressure — a reminder of downside risk if spending outpaces near-term monetization. Michael Burry on Google’s AI spending

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. DA Davidson set a $300.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Company 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.