SJS Investment Consulting Inc. Acquires 2,190 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

SJS Investment Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 19.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,190 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 0.4% of SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st biggest position. SJS Investment Consulting Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,215,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.8% during the first quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,814,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $280,190,000 after acquiring an additional 488,549 shares in the last quarter. City Center Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $237,000. Finally, TrueWealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. TrueWealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,546 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $625,000 after acquiring an additional 226 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

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

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total value of $184,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 3,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,872.04. This trade represents a 13.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 18,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,706,357.25. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 224,587 shares of company stock worth $66,549,284 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein increased their target price on Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Alphabet from $288.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. CICC Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Rosenblatt Securities raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $333.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $323.19.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $328.57 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $330.83. The business’s 50 day moving average is $306.19 and its 200-day moving average is $249.87.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.