Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stake Trimmed by Appleton Partners Inc. MA

Appleton Partners Inc. MA reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 143,507 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 11,204 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.3% of Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,951,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Searle & CO. raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 5,703 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $766,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Activest Wealth Management boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 7,997 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,948,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. Cedar Mountain Advisors LLC now owns 370 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 39 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on GOOG. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $348.00 target price (up previously from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of 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 report on Thursday, January 22nd. Bank of America lifted their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Trending Headlines about 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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,337,229.80. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,069,864 shares of company stock valued at $105,985,041. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

GOOG stock opened at $309.37 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $350.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.10. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $322.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $274.25.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.