Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Boosted by Iowa State Bank

Iowa State Bank lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 11.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 63,241 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,399 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.7% of Iowa State Bank’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Iowa State Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $19,794,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 37.9% in the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the sale, the director owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. The trade was a 18.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock valued at $118,134,117. 11.55% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 14th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.18.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hired Jasjeet Sekhon, Bridgewater’s chief scientist, as chief strategy officer — a high‑profile talent win that reinforces Alphabet’s DeepMind AI bench and long‑term product roadmap. Exclusive: Bridgewater’s chief scientist Sekhon to join Google’s DeepMind AI unit
• Positive Sentiment: High‑profile endorsement: Elon Musk tweeted that Google will “win the AI race in the West,” a bullish signal for market perception of Alphabet’s AI leadership. Elon Musk Says China Will Win The AI Race, But Here’s Where SpaceX Will Win
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: Google’s new “Stitch” AI design features are pressuring rivals (e.g., Figma’s stock fell), underscoring expanding addressable market for Google’s AI tools. Figma’s stock drops 11% in two days after Google releases ‘vibe design’ product
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlights Alphabet’s operational strength (consecutive earnings beats, Cloud acceleration), supporting the bullish analyst consensus and relative outperformance among mega‑caps. 2 Tech Giants Holding Their Ground While the Market Slides
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales disclosed: CEO Sundar Pichai sold ~32,500 shares (~$10M) and Director John Hennessy sold a small stake — notable but small relative to total insider holdings; monitor if these continue. Insider filing: Sundar Pichai sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in the feeds appears anomalous/zero and provides no clear signal (no days‑to‑cover build reported).
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive takes: Analysts compare Snowflake and Alphabet on cloud analytics — SNOW’s momentum is notable but doesn’t negate Google Cloud’s growth trajectory. Snowflake vs Alphabet: Which Cloud Analytics Stock Has an Edge Now?
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern about massive hyperscaler AI spending — analysts flag $410B+ capex across hyperscalers and question near‑term returns, a theme that can pressure tech multiples including GOOGL. Forget the War Headlines: This Is the Real Reason Tech Stocks Are Struggling
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation debate persists: coverage notes shifting investment story as AI deals and capex raise questions about near‑term upside despite solid fundamentals. How The Alphabet (GOOGL) Investment Story Is Shifting With AI Deals And Valuation Questions

Alphabet Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $301.00 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $317.62 and its 200-day moving average is $293.58. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $349.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio 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.