Confluence Investment Management LLC Sells 5,194 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Confluence Investment Management LLC decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 277,189 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 5,194 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $67,509,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $4,298,572,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 73.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,388,775,000 after buying an additional 4,154,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,547.9% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $731,331,000 after buying an additional 4,099,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Stores Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: BMO and other analysts are increasingly bullish on Google Cloud’s AI monetization and enterprise traction — BMO raised its outlook and sees expanding AI/cloud commitments supporting revenue and margin upside. BMO Sees Alphabet Benefiting From Expanding AI Cloud Commitments
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet agreed to buy Intersect (reported ~$4.5–4.75B) to speed U.S. data‑center and power capacity — a strategic move to secure the compute/power footprint needed for AI and Google Cloud growth. Alphabet stock climbs after Intersect buy
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment and institutional conviction remain strong — price targets have been pushed higher and MarketBeat/others note sizable institutional inflows and a favorable technical setup after 2025 gains. Alphabet’s pullback after a big year
• Neutral Sentiment: Google-backed startups continue to IPO (Motive filed for an IPO), showing Alphabet’s ecosystem activity but with limited direct near-term impact on GOOG’s core financials. Google-backed Motive Files for an IPO
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo is rolling out fleetwide software updates and improved emergency protocols after outages and navigation issues — corrective, but timing and cost of fixes are uncertain. Waymo to update software across fleet
• Negative Sentiment: Operational headaches at Waymo (service pauses during San Francisco flash‑flood warnings and earlier blackouts) have drawn negative headlines and could weigh on sentiment around Alphabet’s autonomous‑vehicle unit. Waymo pauses robotaxis in SF due to flash flood warnings
• Negative Sentiment: Positioning and sentiment risks: short interest rose noticeably in mid‑December (reported ~34.8% month-over-month increase as of Dec. 15) and public data show substantial insider selling activity — both can amplify near‑term volatility. QuiverQuant summary of insider trades and AI discussion

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. TD Cowen raised their price target on Alphabet from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Mizuho set a $325.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $313.04.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $315.47 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $295.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $238.56. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $328.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.11, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $184,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,206,872.04. This represents a 13.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 228,906 shares of company stock worth $63,984,117 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.