Black Diamond Financial LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Black Diamond Financial LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 33.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,811 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,699 shares during the period. Black Diamond Financial LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,656,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Moment Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the second quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,325,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Brooktree Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,277,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $302.85 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $349.00. 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 market cap of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $320.20 and its 200 day moving average is $277.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $723,945,705.60. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,079,982 shares of company stock worth $109,267,889 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Argus upped their price target on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.86.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google and Apple are adding music-focused generative-AI features to core apps, showing Alphabet’s AI tech is moving into mainstream consumer experiences that can drive engagement and ad/licensing opportunities. Google Gemini, Apple add music-focused generative AI features
• Positive Sentiment: Google will develop AI tools with Sea Ltd for e-commerce and gaming in Southeast Asia — a tie-up that expands Google Cloud and AI reach in high-growth markets, boosting potential cloud revenue. Google, Shopee-owner Sea to develop AI tools for e-commerce, gaming
• Positive Sentiment: Industry mega-deals like the NVIDIA–Meta expansion reinforce massive, multiyear demand for AI compute — a tailwind for Google Cloud (inference/deployment demand) as hyperscalers lock in infrastructure spending. NVIDIA and Meta Deepen Their AI Alliance
• Positive Sentiment: Big investors remain supportive: Berkshire Hathaway kept its Alphabet stake in recent filings and other high-profile investors (e.g., David Tepper) have increased exposure — signals of institutional confidence in Alphabet’s cloud/AI strategy. Berkshire & AI Hyperscalers: Buffett Holds GOOGL, Dumps AMZN
• Neutral Sentiment: Booking Holdings’ stock-split/earnings story spotlights Google’s Travel/AI booking capabilities — the piece underscores competitive dynamics (Google can disintermediate travel booking) but it’s more relevant as industry context than an immediate revenue swing for Alphabet. Booking Holdings Split: The Catalyst Wall Street Didn’t See Coming
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director John Hennessy sold 600 shares (filed in mid-February) — a small but visible insider sale that can amplify short-term selling narratives. Alphabet Director John Hennessy Sells 600 Shares
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo/regulatory and operational noise: New York regulatory shifts and scrutiny around remote-assistance in robotaxis constrain Waymo’s expansion and keep a regulatory overhang on Alphabet’s AV ambitions. New York Gov. Hochul drops robotaxi service proposal for outside NYC
• Negative Sentiment: Service reliability and cost concerns: A YouTube outage and commentary about Alphabet’s heavy CapEx for AI compute contribute to short-term profit-taking and worries about near-term margins. YouTube outage hits over 32,000 users

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.