Avity Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 5.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 51,864 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,267 shares during the period. Avity Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,608,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after buying an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd 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 purchasing an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
Several research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Truist Financial set a $385.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial raised Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wedbush boosted their price target on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Daiwa Securities Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Three 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.
Trending Headlines about Alphabet
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo and other analysts have moved upbeat on Alphabet, citing stronger AI and cloud positioning and raising price targets, supporting investor optimism about future revenue and compute advantage. Alphabet (GOOGL) Sees Optimistic Coverage From Analysts
- Positive Sentiment: Alphabet paid its first 2026 dividend of $0.21 per share on March 16, a concrete cash return that can support demand from income-oriented investors. Google stock just paid dividends; here’s how much investors received
- Positive Sentiment: Research houses continue to reiterate buy/overweight ratings (Needham reiterated a buy), reinforcing buy-side conviction and supporting price momentum. Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC
- Positive Sentiment: Google procurement teams reportedly visited China to discuss buying liquid cooling gear from local suppliers — a sign of continued data‑center expansion and potential cost/efficiency gains for its cloud and AI compute footprint. Google in talks with China’s Envicool, others to buy data centre cooling systems, sources say
- Neutral Sentiment: Multiple market write-ups (Zacks, Yahoo, Motley Fool summaries) note Alphabet as a trending/overperforming stock due to AI and cloud tailwinds, keeping the name in retail and institutional screens but not providing new catalysts. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Outperforms Broader Market: What You Need to Know
- Negative Sentiment: European publishers and tech firms are pressing the EU to accelerate a probe and impose a fine over alleged search favoritism, creating regulatory uncertainty that could pressure margins or fines down the road. Exclusive: European publishers, tech firms urge EU to speed up fine on Google over search
- Negative Sentiment: Some analysts flag valuation and near‑term margin pressure as capex for AI compute ramps and higher operating costs could limit upside despite growth, a narrative that may cap multiple expansion. Is Alphabet Stock’s 25.55X PE Still Worth it? Buy, Sell, or Hold?
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 in the company, valued at $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at $508,028,012.80. The trade was a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,076,615 shares of company stock valued at $107,809,111. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.
Alphabet Trading Up 1.8%
GOOGL opened at $310.92 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $318.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $291.74. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $349.00. The company has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10. 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 – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The company 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%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.
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.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report).
Receive News & Ratings for Alphabet Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Alphabet and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.
