Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Position Reduced by Westwood Wealth Management

Key Points

• Westwood Wealth Management cut its Alphabet stake by 59.9% in Q4, selling 3,998 shares and leaving 2,679 shares worth about $841,000.
• Large insider selling continued: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (~$10.6M) and John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares (~$14.34M), with insiders offloading 2,069,344 shares worth $104.7M over the past 90 days.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive—MarketBeat shows a consensus "Buy" with an average target of $345.71—and Alphabet beat Q4 earnings expectations and recently declared a $0.21 quarterly dividend.

Westwood Wealth Management decreased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 59.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,679 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,998 shares during the quarter. Westwood Wealth Management's holdings in Alphabet were worth $841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $32,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 145.0% during the third quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 196 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 56.8% in the 3rd quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 218 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $53,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,069,344 shares of company stock worth $104,708,426. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Piper Sandler restated an "overweight" rating and set a $395.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $345.71.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

GOOG opened at $315.73 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.96 and a beta of 1.13. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $306.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $298.59. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $148.40 and a twelve month high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: YouTube is raising U.S. subscription prices while the subscriber base tops ~125M, supporting higher ARPU and recurring revenue for Alphabet. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Google and Intel expanded a multi-year AI infrastructure partnership, reducing execution risk for Google Cloud’s AI capacity buildout and lowering costs for large model workloads. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Top analysts and boutiques reinstated bullish views and flagged upside (one analyst sees 30%+ upside), reinforcing momentum narratives around Cloud and AI monetization. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Longer-term optionality — fractional exposure to a potential SpaceX IPO value and sustained Google Cloud growth — remains a tailwind for longer-horizon investors. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s board approved new long-term equity awards to executives — standard for tech firms but could be viewed as modest dilution; monitor details when full filings are available. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF news (Roundhill GOOGL WeeklyPay distribution) and various market write-ups keep Alphabet in focus but are unlikely to move the stock materially on their own. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest jumped in March to ~44.0M shares (+26.8% vs. mid‑March), representing roughly 0.4% of float and a short‑interest ratio near 1.9 days — rising short activity can amplify downside on negative headlines. (Market data)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal friction: Indonesia issued a reprimand over YouTube compliance and a California bill would add costs/constraints for Waymo’s robotaxi operations — both increase near‑term policy risk for ad and autonomous-vehicle initiatives. Article Title Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some institutional trimming (reported stake reductions) and notes flagging stretched valuation/multiple compression risk could pressure the shares despite solid fundamentals. Article Title Article Title

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.

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