ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 321.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,146 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,215 shares during the period. ARQ Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,980,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

Alphabet stock opened at $307.13 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 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 Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $318.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $291.96.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hires Bridgewater’s chief scientist Jasjeet Sekhon as chief strategy officer — a notable AI talent win that reinforces Alphabet’s product roadmap and competitive positioning in AI. Reuters: Sekhon to join DeepMind
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s Wiz acquisition expands Google Cloud’s security portfolio, strengthening the Cloud growth narrative that underpins future revenue diversification. Zacks: GOOGL’s Wiz buyout
• Positive Sentiment: Regulatory concession: Google will let sites opt out of generative AI search features in the UK — reduces near‑term regulatory risk to search revenue. Reuters: Google to allow AI opt‑out
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares and director John Hennessy sold a smaller stake — notable but small relative to total insider holdings; monitor for pattern. InsiderTrades: Pichai sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in feeds appears anomalous/zero and does not indicate a meaningful short build or squeeze at present.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/valuation headwinds: analysts flag $410B+ hyperscaler AI capex and uncertainty over returns, a theme that keeps pressure on tech multiples (including Alphabet). Fool: Reason tech stocks struggle
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/market pressure: analyst pieces note rising competition in cloud analytics (Snowflake) and product battles that could temper near‑term share gains despite execution. Zacks: Snowflake vs Alphabet

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, March 13th. New Street Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group boosted 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. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 directly owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This trade represents a 8.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock valued at $118,134,117. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.