Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Raised by Clearstead Trust LLC

Clearstead Trust LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 63,398 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,061 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.6% of Clearstead Trust LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Clearstead Trust LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,412,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in 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 worth $2,686,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 201.3% in the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $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 hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large cloud commercial win — CVS will deploy an AI‑enabled health platform on Google Cloud, validating enterprise demand for recurring cloud/AI revenue and supporting the Google Cloud/Gemini growth story. CVS taps Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: AI partnership continuity — Google said Anthropic will remain available for non‑defense projects after DoD actions, limiting disruption to Alphabet’s access to Anthropic models and enterprise AI offerings. Google says Anthropic remains available
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional support — Robert W. Baird lifted its price target to $380 and other firms have boosted targets/ratings recently, reinforcing buy narratives and upside vs. the current price. Baird raises price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Small insider sales — filings show modest sales by a director and the CAO; routine disclosures that markets note but are not large enough to signal strategic conviction changes. SEC filing — insider sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary on recent pullback — coverage (e.g., Zacks) highlights the stock’s slide since earnings and asks whether it can rebound, offering investor viewpoints but no new company fundamentals. Zacks — can it rebound?
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/PR overhang: a wrongful‑death lawsuit alleges harmful guidance from the Gemini chatbot, raising potential liability, regulatory scrutiny and reputational risk for Alphabet’s core AI investment thesis. Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Autonomous‑vehicle scrutiny — the NHTSA/NHTSA‑led safety forum and ongoing probes into Waymo incidents increase regulatory risk and operational uncertainty for the self‑driving unit. NHTSA self‑driving safety forum
• Negative Sentiment: App store revenue pressure — a settlement with Epic lowered Play Store commission rates (to ~20% + up to 5%), which could modestly reduce Play‑ecosystem take rates and near‑term revenue. Play Store commission cut
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/geopolitical pressure — recent tensions and tech pullbacks in affected markets (e.g., Dubai exposure) are weighing on large‑cap tech multiples, contributing to negative sentiment around GOOGL. Tech offices respond to U.S.-Iran tensions

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. HSBC increased their target price on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, New Street Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094 over the last three months. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Alphabet stock opened at $298.80 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $319.93 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $286.87. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS 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%. Sell-side 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. Stockholders 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Alphabet Company 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.