Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 3,493 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 37,887 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,493 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,227,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Kooman & Associates lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Kooman & Associates now owns 4,127 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. boosted its position in Alphabet by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 307,678 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $54,579,000 after buying an additional 9,875 shares during the period. CX Institutional grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 36,475 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,470,000 after acquiring an additional 274 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legend Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $50,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Mizuho set a $325.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $326.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $328.55 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $316.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $261.38. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $341.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share 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 business earned $2.12 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Key Stories Impacting 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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $69,365,318. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Profile

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.