Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Victory Capital Management Inc.’s 8th Largest Position

Victory Capital Management Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 7,199,593 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 101,866 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.1% of Victory Capital Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,758,454,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% in the second quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 60.9% during the second quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 95 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google launched a faster, lower-cost Gemini 3.1 Flash‑Lite model and continues heavy AI/cloud investment — a clear revenue and margin growth thesis for Search and Cloud as AI adoption ramps. Google Launches Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and modelers are lifting Alphabet’s fair value and price targets as AI and “heavy compute” capex are re‑priced into long‑term cash flow expectations — a bullish fundamental backdrop for multiples. How The Alphabet Investment Story Is Shifting
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying and notable stakes (including Berkshire’s disclosed position) reinforce demand and provide a floor to volatility; many firms still carry buy/outperform ratings. Berkshire Holds Alphabet Position
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s management outreach (recent Morgan Stanley conference presentation/transcript) provides incremental visibility on strategy and capex cadence but contained new guidance. Morgan Stanley Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reports in the feed are inconsistent/low‑quality (zeros/NaN), so they’re not a reliable short‑term driver; ignore noisy short‑data anomalies until clearer reports arrive.
• Negative Sentiment: Escalating Middle East conflict has prompted temporary office closures and operational disruptions for tech firms, fueling broad market risk-off flows that pressure large cap tech stocks, including Alphabet. Offices Closed Amid U.S.-Iran War
• Negative Sentiment: Worker pushback and public scrutiny over military AI contracts could create reputational and contract‑execution uncertainty as Google negotiates Pentagon ties for Gemini — potential governance/PR headwinds. Employees Call for Military Limits
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure: OpenAI released a new GPT‑5.3 Instant model on the same day as Google’s Gemini update, increasing the pace of model competition and the need for continued R&D spending. OpenAI Launches GPT-5.3 Instant
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo (Alphabet’s AV unit) is under NTSB investigation for incidents involving stopped school buses, creating regulatory and liability risk that can weigh on investor sentiment for the broader parent. NTSB Investigates Waymo Incidents

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $303.53 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $321.14 and its 200 day moving average price is $285.34. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $350.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.08, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its 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 $2.59 by $0.23. The company 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.15 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be 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 is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Loop Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 target price (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine investment 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,244,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,914,730.12. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,078,926 shares of company stock worth $108,426,720. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet 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.