Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Fifth Third Bancorp’s 5th Largest Position

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,932,180 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 24,077 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.1% of Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Fifth Third Bancorp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $955,913,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.0% in the third quarter. Phillips Wealth Planners LLC now owns 5,665 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,419,000 after purchasing an additional 606 shares during the last quarter. Petra Financial Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 19.6% in the 3rd quarter. Petra Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 2,196 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $534,000 after buying an additional 360 shares in the last quarter. Addison Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Addison Advisors LLC now owns 8,852 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,152,000 after buying an additional 1,212 shares during the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $541,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 2,028,957 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $493,239,000 after acquiring an additional 65,915 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat highlights Alphabet’s “quiet edge” — big hidden assets (14% stake in Anthropic, an early SpaceX stake and massive device distribution) that amplify AI and cloud upside beyond Search and YouTube. Alphabet’s Quiet Edge: The Hidden Assets Powering Its Run
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data — clears a major market access barrier for Google Maps and mapping-related revenue/opportunity in Korea. South Korea approves Google bid to export high-precision map data
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Meta will rent Google’s TPU AI chips for model training — validation of Google’s AI infrastructure business and a potential multi‑billion revenue stream for cloud/TPU services. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta, Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet folded robotics unit Intrinsic into Google and signals Gemini may power next‑gen robots — deepens AI product integration and expands commercial AI addressable market. Alphabet’s robotics platform Intrinsic joins Google to support AI models
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched Nano Banana 2 (image‑generation model) with faster, better outputs — product improvements that help retain user engagement across AI services. Google rolls out Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller increased his Alphabet stake again — a notable institutional vote of confidence often read positively by the market. Druckenmiller Piled Into Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and other analyst pieces reiterate Alphabet’s AI‑fueled edge in Search and Cloud vs. Meta, reinforcing the consensus growth story but not changing near‑term guidance. Meta Platforms vs. Alphabet: Which Digital Ad Behemoth Has an Edge?
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo’s planned expansion toward Chicago signals long‑term commercialization progress but remains a multi‑year revenue story rather than an immediate profit driver. Waymo to bring driverless cars to Chicago
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition watchdog opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — regulatory and legal risk that could pressure ad revenue or require business changes. Belgian watchdog opens probe into Google’s online ad price practices
• Negative Sentiment: Internal tensions: 100+ Google AI employees urged limits on some military uses of Gemini, highlighting governance/ethical frictions that could complicate product deployment and public perception. Google Workers Seek ‘Red Lines’ on Military A.I.
• Negative Sentiment: Schaeffer’s options commentary warns bulls to watch for faltering action and offers a trade for subscribers — a signal some traders are positioning for short‑term downside or increased volatility. Bulls Should Keep Watch on Faltering Alphabet Stock

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOGL. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities upped their price objective on Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.57.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares in the company, valued at $723,945,705.60. The trade was a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,112,380 shares of company stock valued at $119,112,888. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $311.76 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $320.99 and its 200 day moving average is $283.34. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. 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 analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued 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 currently 7.77%.

About Alphabet

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.