Bridgewater Advisors Inc. Sells 2,997 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Bridgewater Advisors Inc. cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.2% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,159 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,997 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.2% of Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Bridgewater Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,813,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,857,017,000 after buying an additional 4,224,497 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,780,875,000 after buying an additional 503,306 shares in 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: Large cloud commercial win — CVS will deploy an AI‑enabled health platform on Google Cloud, validating enterprise demand for recurring cloud/AI revenue and supporting the Google Cloud/Gemini growth story. CVS taps Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: AI partnership continuity — Google said Anthropic will remain available for non‑defense projects after DoD actions, limiting disruption to Alphabet’s access to Anthropic models and enterprise AI offerings. Google says Anthropic remains available
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional support — Robert W. Baird lifted its price target to $380 and other firms have boosted targets/ratings recently, reinforcing buy narratives and upside vs. the current price. Baird raises price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Small insider sales — filings show modest sales by a director and the CAO; routine disclosures that markets note but are not large enough to signal strategic conviction changes. SEC filing — insider sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary on recent pullback — coverage (e.g., Zacks) highlights the stock’s slide since earnings and asks whether it can rebound, offering investor viewpoints but no new company fundamentals. Zacks — can it rebound?
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/PR overhang: a wrongful‑death lawsuit alleges harmful guidance from the Gemini chatbot, raising potential liability, regulatory scrutiny and reputational risk for Alphabet’s core AI investment thesis. Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Autonomous‑vehicle scrutiny — the NHTSA/NHTSA‑led safety forum and ongoing probes into Waymo incidents increase regulatory risk and operational uncertainty for the self‑driving unit. NHTSA self‑driving safety forum
• Negative Sentiment: App store revenue pressure — a settlement with Epic lowered Play Store commission rates (to ~20% + up to 5%), which could modestly reduce Play‑ecosystem take rates and near‑term revenue. Play Store commission cut
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/geopolitical pressure — recent tensions and tech pullbacks in affected markets (e.g., Dubai exposure) are weighing on large‑cap tech multiples, contributing to negative sentiment around GOOGL. Tech offices respond to U.S.-Iran tensions

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Roth Mkm boosted their price target on Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and set a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total value of $184,038.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,325,999.52. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $298.80 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $319.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $285.67. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

About Alphabet

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.