Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Montecito Bank & Trust

Montecito Bank & Trust trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 42,001 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,722 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.0% of Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $12,078,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,630,861,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet will join the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Verizon, which is a prestige win and may attract new index demand. Alphabet replacing Verizon in Dow Jones Industrial Average index
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and recent coverage continue to highlight strong demand for Google Cloud and Alphabet’s AI infrastructure opportunities, reinforcing the long-term growth case. Alphabet Rides on Accelerating AI Infrastructure Demand: What’s Ahead?
• Neutral Sentiment: Google delayed the launch of Gemini 3.5 Pro to July while it continues tuning the model based on early feedback, which suggests progress but also a slower rollout than expected. Google delays Gemini 3.5 Pro launch to July as it tweaks its new frontier AI model
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s YouTube settled a lawsuit over alleged social-media harm to children, removing a legal overhang but without enough detail to gauge a major financial impact. Google’s YouTube settles with plaintiff ahead of second California trial over social media harm to children, attorneys say
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that top AI researchers Jonas Adler and Alexander Pritzel are leaving Google for Anthropic add to concerns about talent retention and competition in frontier AI. AI researchers continue to leave Google for its rivals
• Negative Sentiment: Broader coverage also points to rising competition in AI search and fears that Google’s core search business could face pressure as users and rivals shift toward alternative AI-driven tools. Google’s online dominance Is showing signs of cracking in AI era

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 28th. Wolfe Research cut their target price on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $345.04 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.18 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $368.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $332.69. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $167.55 and a 12 month high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

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.