Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Close Asset Management Ltd’s 3rd Largest Position

Close Asset Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 54.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,018,491 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 359,257 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 5.5% of Close Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Close Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $247,565,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, S&T Bank PA lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 target price (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $385.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google closed its $32 billion acquisition of Israeli cloud-security firm Wiz, folding Wiz into Google Cloud to bolster cloud and AI security capabilities — a major strategic bet that can expand enterprise revenue and product differentiation for Google Cloud. Google completes $32B acquisition of Wiz
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s GFiber unit is combining with Astound Broadband to form an independent fiber provider majority-owned by Stonepeak; Alphabet will be a minority owner — a deal that monetizes capital-intensive infrastructure, reduces execution risk and frees cash for core cloud/AI investments. Google sells partial stake in fiber business, becomes minority owner of new venture
• Positive Sentiment: Canal+ struck a multi-year deal to use Google Cloud’s generative AI for production and content recommendation — a concrete enterprise win that illustrates continued commercial traction for Google Cloud AI in media. Canal+ taps Google’s AI for video production, content recommendation
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and technical commentary are supporting the stock: coverage showing a bullish analyst consensus and MarketBeat noting a stabilizing pullback near $300 have likely encouraged buying from institutional and retail investors. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 2.6% Higher on Analyst Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s increased involvement with Pentagon AI (Agent Designer/GenAI.mil) signals potential contract opportunities but also political scrutiny; revenue upside exists but with reputational/regulatory considerations. Google Deploys AI Agents to Help Pentagon Automate Jobs
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports showing odd/unchanged short-interest figures (zeros or NaN in filings) are effectively non-informative and are unlikely to drive the move in GOOGL today.
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure from Microsoft’s expanding AI-cloud ecosystem (dual-model strategy, Anthropic/OpenAI ties) remains a medium-term risk to Google Cloud’s growth and margins. Microsoft Positioned to Win AI Race With Dual-Model Strategy (GOOGL)
• Negative Sentiment: Governance/compensation scrutiny after reporting of CEO Sundar Pichai’s large incentive package tied to long‑term “moonshot” bets could concern some investors worried about pay structure and execution risk. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai’s new $692 million compensation package…

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $308.70 on Thursday. 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $319.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $288.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.56, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total transaction of $9,859,850.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $508,028,012.80. This represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock worth $118,605,094. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.