Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s Largest Position

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 433,062 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,550 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 5.4% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $135,895,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Avaii Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Avaii Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $993,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 1,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Searle & CO. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 5,703 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $345.71.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $294.90 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $350.15. 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 50 day moving average price of $310.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $296.32. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.13.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’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 transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,092,234 shares of company stock worth $112,487,971. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street bullishness — analysts have raised or reiterated high price targets (Wells Fargo lift tied to Google Cloud monetization; Needham reaffirmed a $400 target), supporting upside expectations for GOOG. Wells Fargo Raises PT on Alphabet Needham Reiterates Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional and notable investor interest — long‑running D. E. Shaw position and reported bets from prominent investors (e.g., Paul Tudor Jones, Stanley Druckenmiller) are read as confidence in Alphabet’s AI/cloud growth story. D. E. Shaw Is Bullish
• Positive Sentiment: AI product & efficiency catalysts — launches and upgrades (Veo 3.1 Lite, Lyria 3 Pro) plus claims of large memory‑efficiency gains (TurboQuant) improve competitive positioning and lower AI operating costs, which supports Google Cloud margins and investor sentiment. Veo 3.1 Lite Lyria 3 Pro AI efficiency / market reaction
• Positive Sentiment: Macro / flow support — broad risk‑on session and gains in tech heavy ETFs (QQQ, SPY contributors) are lifting mega‑caps like GOOG as index momentum and passive flows benefit large holdings. ETF/Index flow contribution
• Neutral Sentiment: Longer‑term cloud/ad market tailwinds — coverage pieces highlight Google Cloud’s rapid revenue/backlog growth and a secular rise in digital ad spend, which are supportive fundamentals but are already priced in to some extent. Digital ad spend theme Cloud & AI infra context
• Neutral Sentiment: New hardware/service experiments (e.g., screenless Fitbit band with subscription model) point to product diversification but are early stage for revenue impact. Fitbit band report
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and content risks — groups of child‑development experts and some governments are pressing Google/YouTube over AI‑generated content for kids; Indonesia has summoned Google over child social media curbs — these raise reputational and compliance risk for YouTube monetization. Experts urge YouTube action Indonesia summons Google
• Negative Sentiment: Legal worries & insider selling — ongoing legal headlines and repeated insider sales (documented filings) create short‑term volatility and investor caution. Legal woes piece Insider sale

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.