Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stake Lessened by NFC Investments LLC

NFC Investments LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 110,426 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,370 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 7.8% of NFC Investments LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest holding. NFC Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,894,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,511,477,000 after buying an additional 2,428,266 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,022,926,000 after acquiring an additional 441,177 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.6% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after acquiring an additional 7,904,434 shares during the period. Finally, Sanders Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% in the 2nd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 35,357,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,272,146,000 after acquiring an additional 2,117,990 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Loop Capital raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report 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 issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,818,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $856,605,814.08. The trade was a 1.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock worth $108,745,244. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large enterprise deals and product momentum support revenue and TPU/cloud demand — Google Cloud wins (CVS AI health platform) and ongoing Gemini product updates reinforce the company’s commercial AI growth story. CVS taps Google Cloud to roll out AI-powered health platform
• Positive Sentiment: Large infrastructure demand signaled by Meta leasing Google TPUs — multibillion‑dollar TPU agreements point to durable cloud revenue from AI training customers. Meta leases Google AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partnerships (reported Apple tie‑up) could deepen Gemini / cloud integration into iOS ecosystem, raising long‑term monetization potential. Gemini lawsuit and Apple deal reframe AI risk/reward
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains constructive — Bank of America reaffirmed a Buy and $370 target, helping underpin bullish expectations for medium‑term upside. Bank of America maintains $370 PT
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling observed (small share disposals by a director and the CAO) — routine filings show modest reductions that investors monitor but that don’t indicate strategic distress. Insider sale filing
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory/legal uncertainty partly settles gameplay — Fortnite returns to Google Play worldwide, but with changed economics from the Epic settlement. That removes distribution uncertainty while altering long‑term service revenue. Fortnite returns to Google Play
• Negative Sentiment: Play Store commission cut — Google’s settlement with Epic reduces Play Store fees to roughly 20%, which could lower app‑store revenue and margins versus prior assumptions. Google lowers Play Store commissions
• Negative Sentiment: High‑profile Gemini lawsuit raises liability and regulatory risk — a wrongful‑death claim alleging harmful chatbot guidance increases uncertainty around consumer AI oversight and potential litigation costs. Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo safety/regulatory scrutiny and AI capex concerns — NTSB probes and reminders of heavy AI capital spending weigh on near‑term margins and sentiment. Waymo NTSB scrutiny AI capex pressure article

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $300.91 on Friday. 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 $3.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.84, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day moving average of $320.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $285.58. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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 $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

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.