AFG Fiduciary Services Limited Partnership Acquires 251,637 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

AFG Fiduciary Services Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 30,724.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 252,456 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 251,637 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 4.1% of AFG Fiduciary Services Limited Partnership’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. AFG Fiduciary Services Limited Partnership’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $79,019,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,640,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock worth $118,134,117 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Mizuho raised their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $301.00 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $317.62 and its 200 day moving average price is $293.58. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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 during 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 7.77%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hired Jasjeet Sekhon, Bridgewater’s chief scientist, as chief strategy officer — a high‑profile talent win that reinforces Alphabet’s DeepMind AI bench and long‑term product roadmap. Exclusive: Bridgewater’s chief scientist Sekhon to join Google’s DeepMind AI unit
• Positive Sentiment: High‑profile endorsement: Elon Musk tweeted that Google will “win the AI race in the West,” a bullish signal for market perception of Alphabet’s AI leadership. Elon Musk Says China Will Win The AI Race, But Here’s Where SpaceX Will Win
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: Google’s new “Stitch” AI design features are pressuring rivals (e.g., Figma’s stock fell), underscoring expanding addressable market for Google’s AI tools. Figma’s stock drops 11% in two days after Google releases ‘vibe design’ product
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlights Alphabet’s operational strength (consecutive earnings beats, Cloud acceleration), supporting the bullish analyst consensus and relative outperformance among mega‑caps. 2 Tech Giants Holding Their Ground While the Market Slides
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales disclosed: CEO Sundar Pichai sold ~32,500 shares (~$10M) and Director John Hennessy sold a small stake — notable but small relative to total insider holdings; monitor if these continue. Insider filing: Sundar Pichai sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in the feeds appears anomalous/zero and provides no clear signal (no days‑to‑cover build reported).
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive takes: Analysts compare Snowflake and Alphabet on cloud analytics — SNOW’s momentum is notable but doesn’t negate Google Cloud’s growth trajectory. Snowflake vs Alphabet: Which Cloud Analytics Stock Has an Edge Now?
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern about massive hyperscaler AI spending — analysts flag $410B+ capex across hyperscalers and question near‑term returns, a theme that can pressure tech multiples including GOOGL. Forget the War Headlines: This Is the Real Reason Tech Stocks Are Struggling
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation debate persists: coverage notes shifting investment story as AI deals and capex raise questions about near‑term upside despite solid fundamentals. How The Alphabet (GOOGL) Investment Story Is Shifting With AI Deals And Valuation Questions

Alphabet Company 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.