Fiera Capital Corp Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Fiera Capital Corp lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,133,285 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 337,428 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 5.6% of Fiera Capital Corp’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Fiera Capital Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,734,102,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brooktree Capital Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,277,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% in the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centerpoint Advisory Group increased its position in Alphabet by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Centerpoint Advisory Group now owns 2,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 418 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $300.88 on Friday. 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 $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $320.22 and its 200 day moving average is $285.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. 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 (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Truist Financial set a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Arete Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,818,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $856,605,814.08. This trade represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total transaction of $184,038.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,325,999.52. This represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock worth $108,745,244. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large commercial win for Google Cloud — CVS will use Google Cloud to launch an AI‑enabled health platform, a meaningful enterprise contract that validates recurring cloud/AI revenue potential. CVS taps Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish industry/analyst tone on AI adoption — reports projecting large AI spending and recent analyst price‑target increases support a higher long‑term revenue multiple for Google Cloud and Gemini. Gartner Says AI Spending Will Hit $2.5 Trillion
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional backing spotlighted — coverage noting Berkshire Hathaway’s profitable position in Alphabet reinforces confidence from large investors. That can underpin demand for shares. Berkshire Is Sitting On Google Gains
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine insider selling disclosed — small sales by a director and the CAO (hundreds of shares) are noted by the market but are modest relative to their holdings and not uncommon. Frances Arnold Sells 112 Shares
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reporting appears anomalous (zero/NaN in recent feeds) — no clear short squeeze or covering signal from the data provided. Short interest report (data flagged)
• Negative Sentiment: Play Store settlement cuts commissions — Google will lower Play Store commissions to 20% (plus up to 5% for Google billing), which may reduce Play/Android monetization and is a near‑term revenue headwind. Google settles with Epic Games
• Negative Sentiment: AI safety/legal overhang — a wrongful‑death suit alleges harmful instructions from the Gemini chatbot, creating reputational, regulatory and litigation risk for Alphabet’s AI business. Gemini wrongful-death suit
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo safety and regulatory scrutiny — recent incidents and NTSB probes raise execution and regulatory risk for Alphabet’s autonomous‑driving unit, which could pressure investor sentiment on non‑core bets. Waymo Faces Mounting Scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/geopolitical tech pullback — regional tensions and related operational impacts (e.g., Dubai) are compressing tech multiples and weighing on large‑cap names like Alphabet. Rising Tensions Force Tech Pullback

Alphabet Profile

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.