Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Rockland Trust Co.

Rockland Trust Co. lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 8.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 469,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 45,777 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 5.8% of Rockland Trust Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $146,841,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Shum Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Shum Financial Group Inc. now owns 9,162 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,868,000 after purchasing an additional 262 shares in the last quarter. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Lord & Richards Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,010 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,568,000 after purchasing an additional 230 shares in the last quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.8% in the fourth quarter. Stewardship Advisors LLC now owns 4,189 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,311,000 after purchasing an additional 373 shares in the last quarter. 25 LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.5% in the fourth quarter. 25 LLC now owns 1,937 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $606,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Finally, One Plus One Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. One Plus One Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,410 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $441,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Loop Capital raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 2,069,344 shares of company stock worth $104,708,426 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom signs a multi‑year deal to develop and supply Google’s next‑generation custom AI chips and data‑center components, reducing supply uncertainty for Google’s AI racks and supporting cloud/AI margin leverage. Broadcom signs long-term deal to develop Google’s custom AI chips (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Expanded Broadcom/Google/Anthropic collaboration increases compute capacity commitments and validates strong demand for Google’s TPUs and rack infrastructure — a positive for Google Cloud positioning and unit economics. Broadcom agrees to expanded chip deals with Google, Anthropic (CNBC)
• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic’s increased compute deal with Google and Broadcom underscores rising demand for Google‑hosted model capacity and could boost revenue from enterprise AI partnerships. Anthropic ups compute deal with Google and Broadcom (TechCrunch)
• Positive Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai says the AI shift creates more opportunities to invest in startups (SpaceX, Anthropic cited), signaling proactive capital deployment into strategic AI partners and potential long‑term ecosystem benefits. Pichai: AI shift opens opportunities to invest in startups (CNBC)
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo opens driverless rides to the public in Nashville, advancing commercial autonomy efforts and potential ride‑hailing revenue streams for Alphabet’s self‑driving unit. Waymo Opens Driverless Rides to the Public in Nashville (CNET)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst commentary and trending coverage (Zacks, Citizens analyst update, market pieces) keep Alphabet on investors’ watchlists; these items support interest but don’t change fundamentals immediately. Alphabet lapping the market (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholder pressure over data‑center water and power use highlights potential permitting delays, higher compliance costs and reputational risk for large buildouts. Investors press Amazon, Microsoft and Google on water, power use (Reuters)
• Negative Sentiment: A NYT analysis questions the accuracy and sourcing of Google’s AI‑generated overviews, flagging reputational and regulatory risks that could affect ad quality and product trust. How Accurate Are Google’s A.I. Overviews? (NYT)
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale by Alphabet’s CAO was reported; size is modest but such filings can be viewed negatively in short term. Insider Selling: CAO Sells Stock (American Banking News)

Alphabet Trading Up 1.8%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $305.46 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $308.04 and its 200-day moving average is $297.62. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $143.03 and a twelve month high of $349.00. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.