Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Trimmed by Artisan Partners Limited Partnership

Artisan Partners Limited Partnership lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 7,529,565 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 556,997 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.6% of Artisan Partners Limited Partnership’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest holding. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership owned approximately 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,830,437,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the third quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 26,303 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,394,000 after buying an additional 1,452 shares during the period. Sava Penzisko Drushtvo A.D. Skopje purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $8,755,000. Buska Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Close Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in Alphabet by 54.5% in the 3rd quarter. Close Asset Management Ltd now owns 1,018,491 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $247,565,000 after acquiring an additional 359,257 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 14,542 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,535,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

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…

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $508,028,012.80. The trade was a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL 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 firm has a fifty day moving average price of $319.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $288.48. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” 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 given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

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.