Payden & Rygel Boosts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Payden & Rygel lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 25.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 184,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 37,400 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 3.7% of Payden & Rygel’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Payden & Rygel’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $44,925,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Clearstead Trust LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.4% during the third quarter. Clearstead Trust LLC now owns 63,398 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,412,000 after acquiring an additional 2,061 shares during the last quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management grew its holdings in Alphabet by 13.6% during the 3rd quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 5,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,372,000 after acquiring an additional 676 shares during the period. Constant Guidance Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 304.4% in the 3rd quarter. Constant Guidance Financial LLC now owns 9,496 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,308,000 after acquiring an additional 7,148 shares in the last quarter. Avalon Trust Co lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.7% in the 3rd quarter. Avalon Trust Co now owns 54,252 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,189,000 after purchasing an additional 6,530 shares during the period. Finally, ROI Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. ROI Financial Advisors LLC now owns 36,679 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,917,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $298.80 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $319.93 and its 200 day moving average is $286.87. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Moffett Nathanson lifted their target price on Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wedbush boosted their target price 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. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $385.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.18.

Key Alphabet News

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,112,493 shares of company stock worth $118,605,094 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.