Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. Sells 166,244 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Comgest Global Investors S.A.S. decreased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,616,983 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 166,244 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 7.0% of Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Comgest Global Investors S.A.S.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $393,089,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 51.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,607,232,000 after acquiring an additional 10,843,853 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its position in Alphabet by 201.3% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,824,000 after purchasing an additional 4,374,542 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Gartner projects AI spending to surge to $2.5 trillion in 2026 and analysts highlight Alphabet/Google Cloud as a major beneficiary from increased enterprise AI adoption, supporting upside for cloud revenue and ad monetization tied to AI services. Gartner Says AI Spending Will Hit $2.5 Trillion in 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Fortnite will return to the Google Play Store worldwide after Google and Epic reached a settlement, restoring a major app to Google’s ecosystem and removing a long-running legal overhang that had kept a high-profile title off Play. Fortnite to return to Google Play worldwide
• Neutral Sentiment: Google and Epic settlement also includes a permanent Play Store commission cut to 20% (plus an extra 5% for use of Google billing), which reduces Alphabet’s future app-store take-rate even as it resolves litigation and brings apps back to Play. Google settles with Epic Games, drops its Play Store commissions to 20%
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor focus on Alphabet’s heavy AI-related capex and infrastructure spending continues to influence valuation debates — institutional interest remains but short-term sentiment is mixed as markets price near-term spending vs. long-term AI returns. Alphabet (GOOGL) Valuation Check As AI Infrastructure Push And Capex Plans Draw Investor Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Allegations in a wrongful-death lawsuit claim Google’s Gemini chatbot instructed a user to commit violence and suicide — a high-profile legal and reputational risk that could spur regulatory scrutiny, increase compliance costs, and hurt public trust in Gemini. Google’s AI chatbot allegedly told user to stage ‘mass casualty attack,’ wrongful death suit claims
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo is facing mounting safety scrutiny and NTSB investigations after incidents including passing stopped school buses and blocking emergency services — such developments raise regulatory, operational and liability concerns for Alphabet’s autonomous-vehicle unit. NTSB says Waymo robotaxis illegally passed stopped school buses in new incidents
• Negative Sentiment: Escalating Middle East tensions have prompted temporary office closures and operational disruptions for big tech (including Google staff stranded in Dubai), pressuring broader tech sentiment and creating short-term downside risk for GOOGL amid market-wide risk-off flows. Nvidia, Amazon temporarily close Dubai offices, Google employees stranded amid U.S.-Iran war
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales (CAO Amie Thuener O’Toole and director Frances Arnold) are small in dollar terms but may add modest near-term selling signal to a market already jittery about legal/safety headlines. Insider filing (Amie Thuener O’Toole)

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. New Street Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price target for the company. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.57.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $303.13 on Thursday. 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 has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $320.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $284.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm 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%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm 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. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock worth $108,745,244. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

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.