Grace & Mercy Foundation Inc. Trims Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Grace & Mercy Foundation Inc. lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 19.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 305,148 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 73,250 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 15.8% of Grace & Mercy Foundation Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Grace & Mercy Foundation Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $74,181,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after buying an additional 10,843,853 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Market perception that Alphabet has shifted from being “hunted” to a “hunter” in the AI race — investors interpret this as improved competitive positioning for search, ads and cloud monetization, supporting near‑to‑midterm growth expectations. Alphabet (GOOG) gained from its shift in the AI race from being ‘hunted’ to being a ‘hunter’
• Positive Sentiment: Google closed its ~$32B acquisition of Wiz — strengthens cloud security capabilities and enterprise positioning, which should help diversify revenue and deepen enterprise cloud relationships over time. Wiz investor unpacks Google’s $32B acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Needham reiterated a Buy on GOOGL, which can buoy investor sentiment and act as a near‑term catalyst for buying interest. Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Heavy retail/investor attention and trending stock coverage (Zacks) — increased searches can raise volatility and volume, but are not a direct signal of fundamentals. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data shows zero reported short shares and a 0.0 days‑to‑cover — likely a reporting anomaly; not meaningful evidence of decreased bearish positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulatory risk: European publishers and tech firms are urging the EU to conclude a long antitrust probe and impose a fine on Google over alleged search favoritism — a faster or larger penalty could pressure revenue from search and create operational constraints. Exclusive: European publishers, tech firms urge EU to speed up fine on Google over search

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, Arete Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Three 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $305.56 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $318.90 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $291.05. The company has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.27, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total transaction of $10,439,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,244,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 2,076,615 shares of company stock valued at $107,809,111 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.