Braun Stacey Associates Inc. Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Braun Stacey Associates Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 308,934 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,550 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.5% of Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. Braun Stacey Associates Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $75,102,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Corsicana & Co. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Alphabet by 77.6% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 348 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,884.14. This trade represents a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $66,695,036 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $328.57 on Friday. 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 stock 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. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $306.19 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $249.31. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $330.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $385.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, December 12th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $325.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Citic Securities boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $323.19.

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.