Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Argent Capital Management LLC’s Largest Position

Argent Capital Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 751,898 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 32,963 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 6.7% of Argent Capital Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Argent Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $235,344,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY increased its stake in Alphabet by 17.6% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank raised its position in Alphabet by 6.9% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 3,120 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 4,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,580,469.82. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock valued at $118,134,117 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $301.00 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $317.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $293.14. 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 capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly 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 net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. President Capital lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet 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 issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.18.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hired Jasjeet Sekhon, Bridgewater’s chief scientist, as chief strategy officer — a high‑profile talent win that reinforces Alphabet’s DeepMind AI bench and long‑term product roadmap. Exclusive: Bridgewater’s chief scientist Sekhon to join Google’s DeepMind AI unit
• Positive Sentiment: High‑profile endorsement: Elon Musk tweeted that Google will “win the AI race in the West,” a bullish signal for market perception of Alphabet’s AI leadership. Elon Musk Says China Will Win The AI Race, But Here’s Where SpaceX Will Win
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: Google’s new “Stitch” AI design features are pressuring rivals (e.g., Figma’s stock fell), underscoring expanding addressable market for Google’s AI tools. Figma’s stock drops 11% in two days after Google releases ‘vibe design’ product
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlights Alphabet’s operational strength (consecutive earnings beats, Cloud acceleration), supporting the bullish analyst consensus and relative outperformance among mega‑caps. 2 Tech Giants Holding Their Ground While the Market Slides
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales disclosed: CEO Sundar Pichai sold ~32,500 shares (~$10M) and Director John Hennessy sold a small stake — notable but small relative to total insider holdings; monitor if these continue. Insider filing: Sundar Pichai sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in the feeds appears anomalous/zero and provides no clear signal (no days‑to‑cover build reported).
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive takes: Analysts compare Snowflake and Alphabet on cloud analytics — SNOW’s momentum is notable but doesn’t negate Google Cloud’s growth trajectory. Snowflake vs Alphabet: Which Cloud Analytics Stock Has an Edge Now?
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern about massive hyperscaler AI spending — analysts flag $410B+ capex across hyperscalers and question near‑term returns, a theme that can pressure tech multiples including GOOGL. Forget the War Headlines: This Is the Real Reason Tech Stocks Are Struggling
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation debate persists: coverage notes shifting investment story as AI deals and capex raise questions about near‑term upside despite solid fundamentals. How The Alphabet (GOOGL) Investment Story Is Shifting With AI Deals And Valuation Questions

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.