Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Lowered by Provident Trust Co.

Provident Trust Co. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.1% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,405,683 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,982 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 13.8% of Provident Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Provident Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $827,922,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 51.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after acquiring an additional 10,843,853 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 201.3% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,153,824,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374,542 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total value of $202,512.00. Following the sale, the director owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at $7,163,524.48. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $322.86 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $349.00. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $321.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $270.73. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q4 estimates with $113.8B revenue, $2.82 EPS, huge Google Cloud growth (48% y/y) and milestone annual revenue above $400B — evidence that AI and ads are driving durable top‑line momentum. Alphabet Crushes Earnings Again, Reports 48% Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini/product adoption and a surging cloud backlog (reported at ~$240B) support longer‑term revenue leverage from AI investments — a structural growth argument investors and many analysts are citing. Google goes from laggard to leader as it pulls ahead of OpenAI with stellar AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the quarter (e.g., Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBC, Needham, Mizuho), providing analyst support under the share price. Multiple analyst price target raises (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest data shows no meaningful short position change (reads as negligible/quiet on short‑selling activity), so moves are likely driven by flows and sentiment rather than a short squeeze.
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF/sector flows and inclusion chatter (new Big Tech ETFs) can amplify moves in GOOGL but are not company‑specific catalysts. Big Tech Core: New Burney ETF Packs Apple, Nvidia, Google, Broadcom Punch
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet guided to $175–$185B of capex for 2026 (aimed at AI compute and cloud), a shockingly large jump that has investors fretting about near‑term free cash flow and returns on incremental AI spend — the dominant proximate cause of recent weakness. Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending (CNBC)
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market narrative: fears about excessive AI capex are prompting a tech sell‑off (FactSet noted >$1T wiped from big‑tech), which weighs on Alphabet alongside company‑specific capex concerns. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was reported after the quarter, adding near‑term pressure on sentiment. Alphabet Shares Down After Insider Selling
• Negative Sentiment: Employee protests over Google Cloud contracts with immigration agencies pose reputational/legal risk that can create headline volatility. Google Workers Demand End to Cloud Services for Immigration Agencies

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. CICC Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce increased their price target on Alphabet to $315.00 in a report on Monday, October 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.46.

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.