Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 25.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 448,198 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 154,301 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 1.1% of Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Erste Asset Management GmbH’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $109,528,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Ithaka Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 3,495.9% in the third quarter. Ithaka Group LLC now owns 45,956 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,193,000 after purchasing an additional 44,678 shares in the last quarter. Telligent Fund LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $4,384,000. Mason Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 105.9% in the 3rd quarter. Mason Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 3,439 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $838,000 after buying an additional 1,769 shares in the last quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Mill Creek Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,590,000 after acquiring an additional 818 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sava Penzisko Drushtvo A.D. Skopje acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $7,983,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and issued a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, December 5th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded AI image generator with faster performance and better text handling — reinforces product leadership for Gemini/search integrations and helps drive user engagement across Google services. Google launches Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly struck a multibillion-dollar deal to rent its AI chips (TPUs) to Meta — a direct revenue and margin-positive outcome from Alphabet’s AI infrastructure investments. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is securing power supply agreements for data centers (deals with AES and Xcel), which reduces execution risk for its AI/cloud buildout and supports continued capacity expansion. Alphabet Secures Power Deals
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data, opening commercial opportunities for Google Maps and Waymo in a market previously restricted — potential revenue and product expansion tailwind. South Korea approves Google bid
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy investors continue to add to Alphabet: notable buying by billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was reported — an endorsement that can support sentiment among long-term institutional investors. Druckenmiller buys Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage and buy ratings remain favorable (recent upgrades and positive notes on cloud/AI), supporting longer-term upside expectations even after concerns about spending. MarketBeat coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest updates in available feeds show anomalous/zero reporting and NaN changes — appears to be noisy data and unlikely to be driving today’s move. (Data entries flagged as 0/NaN.)
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition authorities opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — a regulatory risk that could pressure ad margins or lead to fines/operational changes in Europe. Belgian watchdog probe
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure intensified after OpenAI raised massive funding with Amazon/Nvidia/Microsoft as backers — concentrates AI competition and could blunt parts of Google’s enterprise opportunity or pricing power. OpenAI record funding report
• Negative Sentiment: Investor cautions: critics (Michael Burry, some options trade services) have flagged Alphabet’s aggressive AI capex and warned of margin pressure — a reminder of downside risk if spending outpaces near-term monetization. Michael Burry on Google’s AI spending

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was 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 $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,112,380 shares of company stock worth $119,112,888. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $311.43 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $350.15. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $321.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $283.93. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released 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 $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.