Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Focus Partners Wealth

Focus Partners Wealth lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 2,445,104 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 205,531 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.9% of Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd biggest position. Focus Partners Wealth’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $594,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after purchasing an additional 4,224,497 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Capital World Investors raised 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. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major competitor Meta has delayed a next‑generation AI release and reportedly discussed temporarily licensing Google’s Gemini model, which could help Alphabet expand usage/licensing of its AI stack and win incremental share. Meta delays release; may license Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Needham & Company reaffirmed a “buy” on GOOGL and set a $400 price target (~32% upside from current levels), which can support investor confidence and buying interest. Needham reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlight Meta falling behind on large AI models (and considering licensing Google tech), reinforcing the view that Google could capture market share in foundational models and services. Meta falling behind — Yahoo
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch GOOGL, supporting a constructive fundamental view after recent results. Zacks: earnings growth & price strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Google, Amazon and Meta pushing their own AI chips signals a structural shift in AI infrastructure — a long‑term positive if Google’s stack wins, but it intensifies competition with incumbents like NVIDIA and may pressure margins/capex. AI chips competition — Yahoo
• Neutral Sentiment: Google sold a partial stake in its GFiber unit and partnered to form a new independent fiber provider; this reduces direct capital burden but also trims ownership of the broadband growth asset. GFiber stake sale — CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/PR note: Google named its London HQ “Platform 37” referencing DeepMind/AlphaGo success — modestly positive for culture/AI branding but not material to near‑term financials. Platform 37 naming — Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulator and wider regulatory scrutiny on tech safety and child protection remain overhangs for Big Tech, including Alphabet, since new rules or enforcement could increase compliance costs or constrain certain services. UK regulator warning — Sky

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $302.28 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. 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 company’s 50 day moving average price is $319.12 and its 200 day moving average price is $290.39. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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 $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This trade represents a 8.78% 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 quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Roth Mkm raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, New Street Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Alphabet Company 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.