HM Payson & Co. Sells 6,406 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

HM Payson & Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 451,634 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,406 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.6% of HM Payson & Co.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. HM Payson & Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $109,792,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. 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 holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.2% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,780,875,000 after purchasing an additional 503,306 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total value of $31,971.90. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,706,357.25. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 192,687 shares of company stock worth $56,255,711. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $316.54 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $302.47 and a 200 day simple moving average of $245.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $328.83. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Argus raised its price target on Alphabet to $365 and maintained a “buy” rating, citing stronger upside vs. prior guidance — a direct analyst catalyst that can attract additional buying and support the stock’s valuation recovery. Argus adjusts price target on Alphabet to $365
• Positive Sentiment: Samsung plans to double the number of mobile devices running Google’s Gemini to ~800 million units this year — a major distribution and adoption boost for Alphabet’s AI stack that can increase usage of cloud/AI services, strengthen Gemini’s ecosystem, and create monetization opportunities. Samsung to double devices powered by Google’s Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat highlights Alphabet as a top upgraded stock heading into 2026, noting dozens of analyst bullish revisions, a sharp rise in consensus price targets, and $140B of institutional inflows — all signaling sustained buy-side conviction and potential for further multiple expansion. Alphabet leader in upgraded stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Retail sentiment also favors Alphabet (ranked among top retail picks), reflecting alignment between Main Street and Wall Street — retail interest can amplify momentum and trading volume, particularly around AI narratives and product launches. 5 Stocks Retail Investors Are Betting on for 2026
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile endorsements and narratives (e.g., coverage noting Berkshire Hathaway’s regret at not owning Google) reinforce Alphabet’s long-term quality perception, supporting demand from buy-and-hold investors. Berkshire on missing Google
• Negative Sentiment: Indonesian prosecutors filed graft charges related to laptop procurement involving a former minister; while this implicates local procurement and public-sector processes rather than Alphabet directly, it could create short-term headline risk and localized reputational/legal scrutiny. Ex-Indonesian minister faces graft charges over Google laptop procurement

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. China Renaissance lifted their target price on Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $320.12.

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.