FourThought Financial Partners LLC Sells 1,980 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

FourThought Financial Partners LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.5% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 24,398 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,980 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $5,942,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 100.0% in the second quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 60.9% during the second quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $306.01 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $320.11 and its 200-day moving average price is $288.17. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $350.15. The company has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. 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:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during 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%.The company’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.15 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Technical/flow support: MarketBeat says GOOGL has confirmed a major support zone near ~$300 after a 12% pullback, with strong institutional inflows and analyst upgrades that make the recent dip look like a potential long-term entry. GOOGL Pullback Confirms Support, Setting Up a Potential New Entry
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial traction: Reuters/InsiderMonkey reports CVS Health will roll out an AI-enabled customer platform built on Google Cloud — a tangible enterprise win that should boost cloud consumption and revenue visibility. CVS Health To Roll Out AI-enabled Platform With Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic/partner signal: CNBC reports Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia raised $190M for a new AI-cybersecurity startup (Armadin), with some funding coming from the company that sold him to Google — a sign of continued ecosystem investment and Google’s ongoing ties to security/AI startups. Kevin Mandia raised $190 million for Armadin
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation/coverage context: Market and media pieces (Zacks/Fool) are comparing Alphabet with peers (e.g., Nvidia) and reiterating Alphabet’s diversified revenue mix and long-term AI edge — useful framing but not new catalysts by itself. Nvidia vs. Alphabet: Which Stock Will Make You Richer?
• Negative Sentiment: Supply‑chain/cost risk: TipRanks flags that Nvidia’s high‑bandwidth memory buying spree has created global shortages that could raise costs or constrain Google’s AI hardware spend, a potential margin/headline risk for AI infrastructure. Nvidia’s Memory Shortage Could Cause Google Billions
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure: MarketBeat coverage of Microsoft’s aggressive dual‑model and Anthropic/OpenAI positioning underscores intensifying cloud/AI competition — a reminder Azure is a strong adversary for Google Cloud share gains. Microsoft Positioned to Win AI Race With Dual-Model Strategy
• Negative Sentiment: Governance/headline drag: Recent reports detail approval of a potential $692M CEO pay package tied to Waymo and insider sales by Alphabet’s CEO (~$9.86M sold) — items that can sap sentiment and were linked to small near‑term stock weakness. Alphabet offers CEO pay deal worth up to $692M Alphabet CEO Sells Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: Yahoo/Reuters coverage of Indonesia’s plan to ban high‑risk digital platforms for children under 16 could create regional regulatory pressure on core ad or platform features if similar rules spread. Indonesia Plans to Ban High-Risk Digital Platforms for Children

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Pivotal Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.