Bluesphere Advisors LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Bluesphere Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 25,470 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,827 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.8% of Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Bluesphere Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $6,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after acquiring an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,780,875,000 after acquiring an additional 503,306 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 2,067,686 shares of company stock valued at $105,352,291 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Roth Mkm upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, CICC Research upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $359.44.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts boosted targets and reiterated buys, supporting upside case for growth from AI and cloud — Daiwa lifted its target to $380 and President Capital lifted its target as well. Daiwa raises price target on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: EU granted unconditional antitrust approval for Google’s $32B acquisition of Wiz, removing a major regulatory obstacle for the company’s largest deal and supporting cloud/security growth expectations. EU clears Wiz acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expanded fully autonomous service in Nashville, signaling progress in commercializing a core long-term growth area beyond advertising. Waymo goes fully autonomous
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet increased the size of a multi-part debt sale (reports say the raise topped $30B) as demand strengthened — provides funding for AI infrastructure but raises questions about capital structure and long-duration liabilities. Alphabet boosts debt sale above $30B
• Neutral Sentiment: Company offered voluntary exit packages to some business-unit employees — could reduce costs but also reflects strategic reorganization and execution risk. Google offers buyouts to some staff
• Negative Sentiment: Report that Google handed personal and financial data on a student/journalist to ICE (via subpoena not approved by a judge) raises privacy/regulatory and reputational risk. Google sent student data to ICE
• Negative Sentiment: European Publishers Council filed an EU antitrust complaint about Google’s AI Overviews, adding regulatory pressure around search/AI monetization. Publishers file antitrust complaint
• Negative Sentiment: Autodesk sued Google over alleged trademark infringement for AI video tools and other legal skirmishes/consumer-safety litigation are piling up — added litigation risk. Autodesk sues Google
• Negative Sentiment: High-profile critics and some investors flagged Alphabet’s century‑long debt issuance as worrisome; public comments (e.g., Michael Burry posts) add negative market sentiment. Michael Burry warns on Google

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $318.57 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The company has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $273.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 Company 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.