Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 84.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,236 shares during the period. Blackston Financial Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $275,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Modern Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 103.4% during the third quarter. Modern Wealth Management LLC now owns 151,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $36,938,000 after purchasing an additional 77,226 shares during the last quarter. Sequent Planning LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% during the third quarter. Sequent Planning LLC now owns 12,233 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,974,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. Entrewealth LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% during the third quarter. Entrewealth LLC now owns 2,658 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $646,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Guardian Capital LP raised its holdings in Alphabet by 32.0% during the third quarter. Guardian Capital LP now owns 141,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,279,000 after purchasing an additional 34,219 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trustmark Bank Trust Department lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.1% in the third quarter. Trustmark Bank Trust Department now owns 40,058 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,738,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $303.55 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $319.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $288.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.08, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.10.

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 business had revenue of $113.83 billion for 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%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google closed its large acquisition of cybersecurity firm Wiz, bolstering Google Cloud’s security capabilities and signaling continued investment in cloud/AI — a strategic positive for long‑term cloud revenue growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New commercial wins for Google Cloud underline enterprise demand for its AI stack — Canal+ struck a multi‑year deal to use Google Cloud generative AI for production and recommendations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage and commentaries are constructive: MarketBeat highlights a technical entry point after a pullback and many analysts still rate GOOGL as a buy; Zacks cites earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch the stock. These viewpoints help support demand from long‑term and institutional investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google is reorganizing GFiber into a new independent venture with outside partners (Stonepeak/Astound); Alphabet becomes a minority owner — this recycles capital and reduces direct operational exposure, which is strategically neutral to positive but may have limited near‑term earnings impact. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short‑interest data in these feeds show zero or NaN values and are not meaningful — no clear short‑squeeze or covering signal from these reports. (Data appears erroneous.)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure in key markets is rising: UK regulators have issued warnings and deadlines to tech firms on child safety online, adding potential compliance costs and uncertainty for large platforms. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary flags that Google’s AI leadership is being tested by competitors and market expectations — any signs of slowing AI monetization or execution stoke near‑term investor anxiety. Read More.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. New Street Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Arete Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $370.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

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

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.