Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Acquired by Capital World Investors

Key Points

• Capital World Investors increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the quarter to 28,625,464 shares, worth roughly $6.97 billion and making it the fund’s 22nd-largest holding.
• Alphabet beat expectations for the quarter with EPS of $2.82 (vs. $2.59 consensus) and revenue of $113.83 billion, up 18% year‑over‑year.
• Insider activity has skewed toward selling recently (about 2,112,493 shares sold, ~$118.6 million in the last 90 days), though Wall Street ratings remain largely positive with an average price target around $343.90.

Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 28,625,464 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 539,679 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Capital World Investors' holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest holding. Capital World Investors owned approximately 0.24% of Alphabet worth $6,971,769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 60.9% in the second quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $306.01 on Tuesday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $320.11 and its 200 day simple moving average is $288.17. The company has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.31, a PEG ratio of 1.75 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. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $350.15.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Technical/flow support: MarketBeat says GOOGL has confirmed a major support zone near ~$300 after a 12% pullback, with strong institutional inflows and analyst upgrades that make the recent dip look like a potential long-term entry. GOOGL Pullback Confirms Support, Setting Up a Potential New Entry
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial traction: Reuters/InsiderMonkey reports CVS Health will roll out an AI-enabled customer platform built on Google Cloud — a tangible enterprise win that should boost cloud consumption and revenue visibility. CVS Health To Roll Out AI-enabled Platform With Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic/partner signal: CNBC reports Mandiant founder Kevin Mandia raised $190M for a new AI-cybersecurity startup (Armadin), with some funding coming from the company that sold him to Google — a sign of continued ecosystem investment and Google’s ongoing ties to security/AI startups. Kevin Mandia raised $190 million for Armadin
• Neutral Sentiment: Valuation/coverage context: Market and media pieces (Zacks/Fool) are comparing Alphabet with peers (e.g., Nvidia) and reiterating Alphabet’s diversified revenue mix and long-term AI edge — useful framing but not new catalysts by itself. Nvidia vs. Alphabet: Which Stock Will Make You Richer?
• Negative Sentiment: Supply‑chain/cost risk: TipRanks flags that Nvidia’s high‑bandwidth memory buying spree has created global shortages that could raise costs or constrain Google’s AI hardware spend, a potential margin/headline risk for AI infrastructure. Nvidia’s Memory Shortage Could Cause Google Billions
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure: MarketBeat coverage of Microsoft’s aggressive dual‑model and Anthropic/OpenAI positioning underscores intensifying cloud/AI competition — a reminder Azure is a strong adversary for Google Cloud share gains. Microsoft Positioned to Win AI Race With Dual-Model Strategy
• Negative Sentiment: Governance/headline drag: Recent reports detail approval of a potential $692M CEO pay package tied to Waymo and insider sales by Alphabet’s CEO (~$9.86M sold) — items that can sap sentiment and were linked to small near‑term stock weakness. Alphabet offers CEO pay deal worth up to $692M Alphabet CEO Sells Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk: Yahoo/Reuters coverage of Indonesia’s plan to ban high‑risk digital platforms for children under 16 could create regional regulatory pressure on core ad or platform features if similar rules spread. Indonesia Plans to Ban High-Risk Digital Platforms for Children

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Friday, December 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $360.00 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 assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $343.90.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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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