Sawgrass Asset Management LLC Sells 85,439 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sawgrass Asset Management LLC decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 43.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 112,421 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 85,439 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.4% of Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Sawgrass Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,330,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th 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. Verus Financial Partners Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.2% in the second quarter. Verus Financial Partners Inc. now owns 2,710 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $479,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. Custos Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 32.3% in the second quarter. Custos Family Office LLC now owns 1,994 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Seros Financial LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $232,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. DA Davidson boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Argus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three equities research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.46.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $322.86 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $349.00. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $270.73.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,179,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $730,481,906.96. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,224,380. This trade represents a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.