Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Bought by Advisory Alpha LLC

Advisory Alpha LLC increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 10.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 32,382 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,008 shares during the quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $7,981,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,511,477,000 after acquiring an additional 2,428,266 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,022,926,000 after acquiring an additional 441,177 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after acquiring an additional 7,904,434 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 35,357,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,272,146,000 after acquiring an additional 2,117,990 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 target price (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $348.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. DZ Bank raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.90.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large enterprise deals and product momentum support revenue and TPU/cloud demand — Google Cloud wins (CVS AI health platform) and ongoing Gemini product updates reinforce the company’s commercial AI growth story. CVS taps Google Cloud to roll out AI-powered health platform
• Positive Sentiment: Large infrastructure demand signaled by Meta leasing Google TPUs — multibillion‑dollar TPU agreements point to durable cloud revenue from AI training customers. Meta leases Google AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partnerships (reported Apple tie‑up) could deepen Gemini / cloud integration into iOS ecosystem, raising long‑term monetization potential. Gemini lawsuit and Apple deal reframe AI risk/reward
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains constructive — Bank of America reaffirmed a Buy and $370 target, helping underpin bullish expectations for medium‑term upside. Bank of America maintains $370 PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling observed (small share disposals by a director and the CAO) — routine filings show modest reductions that investors monitor but that don’t indicate strategic distress. Insider sale filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory/legal uncertainty partly settles gameplay — Fortnite returns to Google Play worldwide, but with changed economics from the Epic settlement. That removes distribution uncertainty while altering long‑term service revenue. Fortnite returns to Google Play
• Negative Sentiment: Play Store commission cut — Google’s settlement with Epic reduces Play Store fees to roughly 20%, which could lower app‑store revenue and margins versus prior assumptions. Google lowers Play Store commissions
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile Gemini lawsuit raises liability and regulatory risk — a wrongful‑death claim alleging harmful chatbot guidance increases uncertainty around consumer AI oversight and potential litigation costs. Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo safety/regulatory scrutiny and AI capex concerns — NTSB probes and reminders of heavy AI capital spending weigh on near‑term margins and sentiment. Waymo NTSB scrutiny AI capex pressure article

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

GOOG stock opened at $300.91 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $350.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $320.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $285.58. 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:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity

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 $6,325,999.52. This trade represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was 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 owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock valued at $108,745,244. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.