Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 33.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,169 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,068 shares during the period. Amplius Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,986,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $54,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 36.4% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 37.9% in the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S&T Bank PA lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 40.2% in the second quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI & advertising momentum: Analysts and media posit that Alphabet’s Gemini/AI-search progress and a strong advertising engine are driving a renewed rally and expectations that the company can join the $4 trillion market-cap group. Prediction: This Artificial Intelligence Stock Will Become a Member of the $4 Trillion Club in 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Market-cap milestone: Alphabet has overtaken Apple to become the world’s second-most valuable public company — a status shift that can attract index/ETF flows and underpins momentum. Google Claims Apple’s Spot on Most-Valuable-Companies List
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street upgrades: Multiple analysts have raised price targets and issued bullish notes heading into 2026, reinforcing institutional demand and supporting higher valuations. Analyst revises Google stock price target for the next 12 months
• Neutral Sentiment: Wiz acquisition pending EU decision: The EU will decide on Alphabet’s $32B Wiz buy by Feb. 10 — resolution will remove a major overhang but could bring remedies or conditions. EU antitrust regulators to decide on Google’s Wiz deal by February 10
• Neutral Sentiment: Lawsuit settlements on AI chatbots: Alphabet and Character.AI settled suits tied to minors’ harm, which reduces immediate legal uncertainty but keeps reputational and regulatory scrutiny active. Google and Character.AI to Settle Lawsuit Over Teenager’s Death
• Negative Sentiment: App-store pressure from U.S. senators: Three Democratic senators urged Apple and Google to suspend Elon Musk’s X and Grok apps after allegations that Grok-enabled image generation facilitated sexualized images of minors — this directly implicates Google’s Play Store and could invite political/regulatory attention. Grok and X should be suspended from Apple, Google app stores, Democratic senators say
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (SEC filing). The sale is small relative to his holdings but can be viewed negatively by some market participants. Sundar Pichai stock sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Talent poaching: Nvidia hired a senior Google marketing executive as CMO — a signal that top talent is mobile amid fierce AI competition, which could concern investors about retention. Nvidia Hires Google Veteran as Its First Chief Marketing Officer

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $328.57 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $306.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $249.31. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $330.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. New Street Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 24th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $365.00 price target (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, December 11th. Susquehanna lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp boosted their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “market outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 31st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 price target (up previously from $320.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.19.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were 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 approximately $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 225,187 shares of company stock worth $66,695,036 over the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company 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.