Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stock Position Lessened by Boston Common Asset Management LLC

Key Points

• Boston Common Asset Management reduced its stake in Alphabet by 22.2% in Q4, selling 34,385 shares to hold 120,397 shares worth about $37.8 million, making GOOG its 8th largest holding (≈1.9% of the fund).
• Analysts maintain a consensus Buy rating with a $345.71 average price target, and Alphabet recently posted a quarter beat (EPS $2.82 vs. $2.59) with revenue of $113.8 billion, up 18% year‑over‑year.
• Near‑term risks include notable insider selling (2.1M shares, ~$115M in the last 90 days), a Turkish regulatory probe into ad/billing practices, and the departure of Alphabet’s principal accounting officer.

Boston Common Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 22.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 120,397 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 34,385 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.9% of Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Boston Common Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $37,781,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Polaris Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $3,032,000. Presidio Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Presidio Capital Management LLC now owns 3,283 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,030,000 after purchasing an additional 354 shares during the period. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG grew its holdings in Alphabet by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG now owns 117,283 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $36,803,000 after buying an additional 10,294 shares in the last quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 5,475.0% during the 4th quarter. Westend Capital Management LLC now owns 669 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $210,000 after buying an additional 657 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Mn Services Vermogensbeheer B.V. now owns 1,648,477 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $517,292,000 after buying an additional 37,297 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOG. Scotiabank restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $360.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $345.71.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Gemma 4, an open‑source AI model family that strengthens Google’s developer ecosystem and supports future cloud/AI revenue opportunities. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Google updated Gemini API pricing with “Flex” and “Priority” tiers to balance speed, cost and reliability — that could broaden usage, enable more price‑sensitive workloads, and boost API adoption/revenue. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Technical advances like TurboQuant (memory/compression for large models) can lower infrastructure costs for AI workloads and improve margins over time — a structural benefit to Google’s cloud/AI economics. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo and other analysts remain constructive (Overweight/Buy) but have trimmed price targets — signaling confidence in the long run while dialing back near‑term expectations. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market/ETF flows continue to amplify Alphabet’s moves (SPY/QQQ dynamics): macro risk‑on/off days can create outsized short‑term volatility for big caps. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Big Tech H‑1B filings have fallen, reflecting broader hiring freezes/reshuffling across the sector — not an Alphabet‑specific revenue issue but a labor/strategy signal. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Turkey’s competition authority opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — regulatory probes risk fines, remedial costs and local ad‑revenue disruption. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s principal accounting officer, Amie Thuener O’Toole, is leaving (joining Broadcom as CFO) — departure of a senior finance leader creates some short‑term transition risk for controls and reporting. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Semianalysis warned heavy AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — investors sensitive to FCF may penalize valuation if spending outpaces monetization. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling by senior executives (e.g., John Kent Walker) adds to near‑term negative sentiment, especially amid market sensitivity to insider activity. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader legal pressure on platforms (recent cases challenging Section 230 protections) raises regulatory and litigation risk for YouTube/Google content/ad products. Read More.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $294.46 on Friday. The company's fifty day moving average price is $309.00 and its 200-day moving average price is $296.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.13. 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, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. 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%. The firm's revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 4,631 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,405,091.71. The trade was a 18.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet 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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