Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s Largest Position

Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 971,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 190,935 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 3.0% of Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $303,981,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY increased its holdings in Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank increased its holdings in Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Argus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 target price (up from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Robert W. Baird lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $385.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.33.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $299.99 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $308.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $297.26. The company has a market cap of $3.63 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom signed a multi‑year deal to design and supply Google’s custom AI chips and other components through 2031, improving Google’s hardware roadmap and supply visibility for its large‑scale AI racks — a direct support to Google Cloud and AI capacity planning. Broadcom signs long-term deal to develop Google’s custom AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom’s expanded collaboration also covers supplying computing capacity (and chips) tied to Google’s infrastructure and includes Anthropic access — this can monetize Google’s AI racks and support third‑party workloads running on Google’s platform. Broadcom agrees to expanded chip deals with Google, Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: A Wall Street analyst reiterated a constructive outlook and updated price target on Alphabet, signaling continued institutional support despite near‑term operational questions in some units. Wall Street analyst updates Google stock price target
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet stands to benefit materially if SpaceX’s IPO values the company’s early stake highly — analysts have flagged a potential multibillion‑dollar windfall that would bolster Alphabet’s balance sheet. 2 Stocks About To Make a Killing on the SpaceX IPO
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader AI market commentary highlights Alphabet among a handful of mega‑caps driving AI investment and sentiment; such macro positioning supports long‑term narrative but is already priced into multiples. Nvidia, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Microsoft Are Sending Shockwaves Through Wall Street With This $16 Billion Warning
• Neutral Sentiment: Competition and supply dynamics: Intel is pursuing advanced packaging conversations with Amazon and Google, which could alter future chip supply/packaging choices for hyperscalers — watch for execution and cost implications. Intel Targets Amazon, Google on AI Chip Packaging
• Negative Sentiment: The New York Times raised questions about the accuracy and sourcing of Google’s AI “overviews,” which increases reputational and potential regulatory risk around generative search features — a readiness risk for user trust and moderation costs. How Accurate Are Google’s A.I. Overviews?
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are pressing Google on water and power usage at U.S. data centers; recent project cancellations and shareholder scrutiny could increase operational constraints or delay capacity expansion. Investors press Amazon, Microsoft and Google on water, power use in US data centers
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by Alphabet’s CAO (modest size) was reported; while not large, these disclosures can add short‑term negative sentiment headlines. Insider Selling: Alphabet CAO Sells Stock

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.