Equitable Trust Co. Sells 3,000 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Equitable Trust Co. lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.2% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 254,154 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,000 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.8% of Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Equitable Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $61,785,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brooktree Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 13.9% in the third quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,277,000 after acquiring an additional 7,180 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its position 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 valued at $5,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,241 shares during the period. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centerpoint Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 21.0% during the 2nd quarter. Centerpoint Advisory Group now owns 2,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $424,000 after purchasing an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $298.80 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 7.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $385.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC lifted their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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

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.