Appleton Partners Inc. MA Cuts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Appleton Partners Inc. MA trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 143,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 11,204 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.3% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,951,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Fairman Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% in the second quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.6%

GOOG opened at $309.37 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $350.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $322.20 and a 200-day moving average price of $274.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.15 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be 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 is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI & Cloud momentum — Google’s Gemini and cloud businesses continue to show rapid user and revenue growth, supporting the company’s long‑term monetization outlook and attracting bullish analyst coverage (Scotiabank recently raised its target). Scotiabank Maintains Outperform on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: New AI shopping monetization tests — Google is rolling shopping features into Search and Gemini, a direct path to monetize AI interactions (ads in AI responses). This supports medium‑term revenue upside as AI becomes an ad/shopping channel. Google Weaves New Shopping Feature Into Search and Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo deployment progress — Waymo’s rollout of next‑gen Ojai robotaxis improves execution visibility for Alphabet’s autonomy unit and shows continued non‑ad growth investments. Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Century bond demand — Alphabet’s rare 100‑year bond and a large multi‑currency debt package were heavily subscribed, showing investor appetite for long‑dated paper but raising questions about signal vs. financing choice. Coverage is mixed on whether this is a positive demand signal or a red flag about heavy AI funding. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional flows mixed — some funds (Egerton, Fisher) added positions while others trimmed. Large 13F moves and continued analyst buy ratings keep a structural buyer base but create near‑term rotation noise. Egerton opens new $338.5M GOOG position
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probes into search ad auction practices — Reuters/Bloomberg report fresh EU investigations into Google’s ad auction/pricing practices in Europe, a direct regulatory risk to the core ad business and a catalyst for negative investor reaction. Google targeted by EU over search ad auction practices
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and financing fears — heavy FY2026 capex guidance ($175–185B), a $31.5B bond program and the century bond have spooked some investors concerned about free‑cash‑flow pressure and dilution risk, which contributed to recent share weakness after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Some big holders trimming — the Swiss National Bank and several funds have cut GOOGL exposure in recent filings, which can amplify downward pressure in the near term. Swiss National Bank reduces GOOGL holdings

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, 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 transaction of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total transaction of $202,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at $7,163,524.48. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,069,864 shares of company stock worth $105,985,041. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.