Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Acquires 7,461 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 88,370 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,461 shares during the quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Kooman & Associates boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the second quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 4,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Sightline Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $223,000. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the second quarter. Oxinas Partners Wealth Management LLC now owns 21,365 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,790,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, BigSur Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the second quarter. BigSur Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,680 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,620,000 after purchasing an additional 1,050 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major analyst upgrade and higher price targets highlight AI-driven upside — Raymond James raised GOOG to “Strong Buy” and boosted its price target (street chatter also shows multiple firms lifting targets), supporting investor confidence in Alphabet’s AI strategy and Google Cloud momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Big investors adding shares — Baillie Gifford disclosed adding ~1.19M GOOGL shares in the latest 13F filing, a sign of continued institutional accumulation that can underpin price support. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI ecosystem wins — Apple reportedly will use Google’s Gemini to power the next Siri, expanding Gemini’s distribution and reinforcing Alphabet’s AI moat and monetization pathways. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage remains focused on AI and technicals — Several outlets and analysts are publishing bullish previews and technical trading ideas (including MarketBeat, Zacks, TipRanks), which keeps interest high but doesn’t guarantee near-term moves. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo expansion vs. scrutiny — Waymo launched robotaxis in Miami (expansion signal), which can drive future growth for Alphabet’s autonomy segment but also raises operational/legal exposure as deployment scales. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: NTSB opens probe into Waymo after robotaxis passed stopped school buses — A federal safety investigation into repeated illegal passes in Austin (reported incidents across states) creates regulatory and reputational risk for Waymo and, by extension, Alphabet. That headline is the clearest near-term negative catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Antitrust litigation risk persists — A federal judge allowed a consumer antitrust lawsuit over Google Search to proceed, keeping legal exposure and potential remedies on the radar for investors assessing longer-term regulatory risk. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price target on Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays lifted their target price on Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $326.13.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $69,365,318. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $328.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $316.33 and a 200-day moving average of $260.79. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $341.20. 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 capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.