Argent Trust Co Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Argent Trust Co lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 161,552 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,954 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.4% of Argent Trust Co’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Argent Trust Co’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,346,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,697,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 594,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $105,540,000 after acquiring an additional 41,132 shares in the last quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 3,134 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $556,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 19.4% during the 2nd quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC now owns 2,391 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $311.43 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $321.49 and its 200 day moving average is $283.93.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,211,872 shares in the company, valued at $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,112,380 shares of company stock valued at $119,112,888. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded AI image generator with faster performance and better text handling — reinforces product leadership for Gemini/search integrations and helps drive user engagement across Google services. Google launches Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly struck a multibillion-dollar deal to rent its AI chips (TPUs) to Meta — a direct revenue and margin-positive outcome from Alphabet’s AI infrastructure investments. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is securing power supply agreements for data centers (deals with AES and Xcel), which reduces execution risk for its AI/cloud buildout and supports continued capacity expansion. Alphabet Secures Power Deals
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data, opening commercial opportunities for Google Maps and Waymo in a market previously restricted — potential revenue and product expansion tailwind. South Korea approves Google bid
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy investors continue to add to Alphabet: notable buying by billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was reported — an endorsement that can support sentiment among long-term institutional investors. Druckenmiller buys Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage and buy ratings remain favorable (recent upgrades and positive notes on cloud/AI), supporting longer-term upside expectations even after concerns about spending. MarketBeat coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest updates in available feeds show anomalous/zero reporting and NaN changes — appears to be noisy data and unlikely to be driving today’s move. (Data entries flagged as 0/NaN.)
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition authorities opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — a regulatory risk that could pressure ad margins or lead to fines/operational changes in Europe. Belgian watchdog probe
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure intensified after OpenAI raised massive funding with Amazon/Nvidia/Microsoft as backers — concentrates AI competition and could blunt parts of Google’s enterprise opportunity or pricing power. OpenAI record funding report
• Negative Sentiment: Investor cautions: critics (Michael Burry, some options trade services) have flagged Alphabet’s aggressive AI capex and warned of margin pressure — a reminder of downside risk if spending outpaces near-term monetization. Michael Burry on Google’s AI spending

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $315.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Loop Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

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.