a16z Perennial Management L.P. Takes Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

a16z Perennial Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 27,858 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,778,000. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.4% of a16z Perennial Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Fairman Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 121.3% in the 2nd quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% in the second quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total transaction of $202,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 21,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,163,524.48. This trade represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,337,229.80. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,069,864 shares of company stock valued at $105,985,041. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on GOOG. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial raised Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $315.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $345.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI & Cloud momentum — Google’s Gemini and cloud businesses continue to show rapid user and revenue growth, supporting the company’s long‑term monetization outlook and attracting bullish analyst coverage (Scotiabank recently raised its target). Scotiabank Maintains Outperform on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: New AI shopping monetization tests — Google is rolling shopping features into Search and Gemini, a direct path to monetize AI interactions (ads in AI responses). This supports medium‑term revenue upside as AI becomes an ad/shopping channel. Google Weaves New Shopping Feature Into Search and Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo deployment progress — Waymo’s rollout of next‑gen Ojai robotaxis improves execution visibility for Alphabet’s autonomy unit and shows continued non‑ad growth investments. Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Century bond demand — Alphabet’s rare 100‑year bond and a large multi‑currency debt package were heavily subscribed, showing investor appetite for long‑dated paper but raising questions about signal vs. financing choice. Coverage is mixed on whether this is a positive demand signal or a red flag about heavy AI funding. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional flows mixed — some funds (Egerton, Fisher) added positions while others trimmed. Large 13F moves and continued analyst buy ratings keep a structural buyer base but create near‑term rotation noise. Egerton opens new $338.5M GOOG position
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probes into search ad auction practices — Reuters/Bloomberg report fresh EU investigations into Google’s ad auction/pricing practices in Europe, a direct regulatory risk to the core ad business and a catalyst for negative investor reaction. Google targeted by EU over search ad auction practices
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and financing fears — heavy FY2026 capex guidance ($175–185B), a $31.5B bond program and the century bond have spooked some investors concerned about free‑cash‑flow pressure and dilution risk, which contributed to recent share weakness after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Some big holders trimming — the Swiss National Bank and several funds have cut GOOGL exposure in recent filings, which can amplify downward pressure in the near term. Swiss National Bank reduces GOOGL holdings

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $309.37 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $322.20 and its 200 day moving average is $274.25. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.15 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.