Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Acquired by MCF Advisors LLC

MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.9% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 21,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,052 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,110,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Authentikos Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $454,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 33.4% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 75,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $18,470,000 after buying an additional 18,968 shares during the last quarter. Hurlow Wealth Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $250,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the third quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 59,170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,384,000 after buying an additional 303 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 123.6% during the third quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 251,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,363,000 after buying an additional 138,976 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic cloud partnerships expanding addressable market — Google announced a deal with Sea Ltd to build AI tools for e‑commerce and gaming, which supports Google Cloud revenue growth in Southeast Asia and demonstrates enterprise demand for its AI stack. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum — Google is rolling Gemini‑powered, music‑focused generative‑AI features (also showing up at competitors), indicating faster consumer AI adoption that could boost engagement and future monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional support & analyst upgrades — recent 13F activity and analyst price‑target increases (and MarketBeat coverage) signal long‑term investor conviction that can underpin the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI infrastructure arms race — NVIDIA–Meta mega‑deal and hyperscaler capex plans validate AI demand but raise competitive and capital‑intensity questions for Google; this is demand‑positive but increases the investment bar. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet exploring chip/partner strategies — WSJ reports Google is weighing ways to use its balance sheet to better compete with chip suppliers, a strategic move that could reduce long‑run costs or distract management depending on execution. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — recent disclosed sales by CEO Sundar Pichai and senior exec John Kent Walker (multi‑million dollar sales) can sap near‑term sentiment even if routine for compensation/liquidity reasons. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Security/legal risk — indictment of three engineers accused of stealing Google trade secrets and sending data to Iran raises potential IP, litigation and reputational risks that investors will watch. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI rotation/profit‑taking — some prominent managers have trimmed AI positions in recent 13F filings, which contributes to episodic pressure on hyperscaler multiples. Read More.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total transaction of $184,038.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 20,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,325,999.52. This represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the firm’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 value of $35,060,852.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Rosenblatt Securities raised their target price on Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wedbush lifted their target price on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup upped their target price on Alphabet from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $385.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.86.

Alphabet Trading Up 4.0%

Alphabet stock opened at $314.98 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $349.00. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $320.32 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $279.46. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Alphabet 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.