Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc. cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 17.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,564 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,018 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 0.9% of Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 29th largest position. Alexander Labrunerie & CO. Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,329,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,511,477,000 after acquiring an additional 2,428,266 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,240,469,000 after purchasing an additional 7,904,434 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.8% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,749,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,203 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,583,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,935,671,000 after purchasing an additional 223,743 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,503,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,588,323,000 after purchasing an additional 695,736 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. DZ Bank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $345.71.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New CVS partnership (Health100) expands Gemini AI into consumer healthcare and creates a potential commercial channel across pharmacy, insurance and wearables — a tangible monetization path for Gemini models. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hired Bridgewater’s chief scientist Jasjeet Sekhon as chief strategy officer — a high‑profile AI talent acquisition that strengthens research and commercial push vs. OpenAI/Anthropic. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: Google’s updated Stitch / AI design tools are getting market traction and have pressured competitors (Figma, Adobe), signaling faster adoption of Google’s developer/designer workflows. Product wins can accelerate monetization of AI features. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational: Google signed utility deals to curb data‑center power use during peaks, helping secure capacity for AI workloads and reducing the risk of power shortages for new data centers. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud strengthened security via the Wiz buyout, improving its enterprise positioning against AWS/Azure — supportive for enterprise AI adoption and higher‑margin cloud growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory: Google will add an opt‑out for generative AI in search to address UK competition concerns — reduces near‑term regulatory friction but could limit product scope in the UK. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/market context: Strong analyst sentiment, recent dividend initiation and high price targets support longer‑term confidence but leave valuation sensitive to execution and capex. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Sundar Pichai and other insiders have executed large, repeated sales this month — amplifies short‑term caution and can pressure sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Supply‑chain/geopolitical risk: Greater reliance on Chinese suppliers for advanced liquid‑cooling (and possible acquisition) improves capacity but raises export, regulatory and geopolitical risk for AI infrastructure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/valuation risk: Ongoing hyperscaler AI capex is large and raises questions about the timing of returns — a counterweight to optimistic AI revenue narratives and a potential drag on near‑term multiples. Read More.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock valued at $118,134,117. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

GOOG opened at $305.73 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $318.27 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $292.42. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.15 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

About Alphabet

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.