Advisors Capital Management LLC Sells 15,209 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Advisors Capital Management LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 517,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 15,209 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.6% of Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Advisors Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $126,127,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 100.0% during the second quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, 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 value of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at $3,337,229.80. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,818,524 shares in the company, valued at $856,605,814.08. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price target (up previously from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Bank of America lifted their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $314.90 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $320.95 and its 200 day moving average price is $279.50. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $350.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The company 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%.Alphabet’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current 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 paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and brokers have raised price targets and highlighted AI/cloud upside (UBS, Canaccord), citing Gemini adoption and generative‑AI capex that could add meaningful cloud revenue. UBS generative AI capex note
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet committed to a major $15B America‑India Connect initiative and announced partnerships (Zillow, Sea) that expand Gemini/Cloud into verticals — positive for long‑term cloud/ads monetization and market reach. America-India Connect announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Notable institutional buying from hedge funds (e.g., Appaloosa/Tepper, Altimeter, Viking) signals conviction in Alphabet’s AI/Cloud thesis and can support the stock through execution milestones. Appaloosa increases stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Product demos (Gemini AI coach, music features) and consumer launches (Pixel device with AI features) improve user engagement and positioning but are not immediate revenue drivers. Gemini demo on CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for February shows anomalies (zeros/NaN) and provides no clear bearish signal at present; treat the statistic cautiously until reconciled.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior execs disclosed sizable sales (Sundar Pichai, John Kent Walker), which markets often view as a modest near‑term negative signal despite normal tax/liquidity reasons. Pichai sale filing Walker sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/IP risk: prosecutors have charged engineers in an alleged scheme to steal Google trade secrets and pass files abroad — reputational and security concerns that could invite regulatory scrutiny. Trade-secrets indictment
• Negative Sentiment: Execution/supply risks: DeepMind’s CEO warned that memory‑chip shortages constrain agentic AI research/deployment, which could slow rollout timing or raise costs for compute‑intensive initiatives. DeepMind chip shortage comments
• Negative Sentiment: Several institutional investors disclosed trims (Pershing Square, Longview, others). Broad portfolio rebalancing can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if longer‑term AI momentum remains. Pershing Square trim

Alphabet Profile

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.