Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Chesley Taft & Associates LLC

Key Points

• Chesley Taft & Associates raised its Alphabet stake by 4.1% in Q4 to 109,436 shares (about $34.25M), making GOOGL its 19th-largest holding and ~1.4% of the firm's portfolio.
• Alphabet beat estimates for the most recent quarter with EPS of $2.82 vs. $2.57 expected and revenue of $113.83B vs. $111.24B, and the company carries a market cap of roughly $3.58 trillion.
• Mixed ownership signals: insiders have sold ~2.10M shares (~$115.15M) in the past 90 days, even as major institutions like Norges Bank and Berkshire Hathaway established multibillion‑dollar positions; institutional ownership stands at about 40.03%.

Chesley Taft & Associates LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 109,436 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 4,270 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.4% of Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest position. Chesley Taft & Associates LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $34,253,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,686,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after acquiring an additional 6,874,381 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $295.77 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $309.29 and its 200 day moving average price is $296.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given 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 of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. The trade was a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive — Wells Fargo kept an overweight rating (while trimming targets), and other outlets highlight Buy/Outperform views that point to meaningful upside from cloud/AI monetization. Wells Fargo Raised the PT on Alphabet Inc (GOOGL), Maintains a Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Product/efficiency wins: Google’s Gemma 4 and the TurboQuant algorithm reduce model memory needs and improve on‑device/model efficiency — strengthens competitive moat and could lower operating costs for AI services. Google's Gemma 4 brings AI superpowers to your device Google's TurboQuant Breakthrough Just Rewrote the AI Playbook
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamental/earnings confidence: coverage from Zacks and others flags Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch the stock heading into earnings season. Earnings Growth & Price Strength Make Alphabet (GOOGL) a Stock to Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent movement: Broadcom named Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as its next CFO — notable departure to monitor but not an immediate earnings event. Broadcom taps Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as next CFO
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory probe in Turkey: the Turkish Competition Board opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — potential fines, business restrictions or remediation costs could hit ad revenue/operations in the region. Turkey launches investigation into Google over advertising, billing practices
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk rises as Section 230 liability narrows: recent court losses for platforms (including YouTube/Google units) increase the probability of costly litigation and moderation compliance burdens. Meta, Google under attack as court cases bypass 30-year-old legal shield
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term cash‑flow and capex concern: industry commentary warns that hyperscaler AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — elevates execution and financing risk until monetization of AI investments scales. Semianalysis CEO: Google's free cash flow will hit zero next year from AI capex
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/ESG risk from data‑center power strategy: reporting that hyperscalers (including Google) are building large natural‑gas plants to power AI centers raises reputational, regulatory and long‑term transition risks. AI companies are building huge natural gas plants to power data centers. What could go wrong?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: an SEC filing shows a senior exec sold ~9k shares in late March — modest in dollar terms but can be read negatively by short‑term traders. Insider Selling: Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL Insider Sells 8,993 Shares of Stock

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the stock. Truist Financial set a $385.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Pivotal Research boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up from $325.00) 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 issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $367.33.

About Alphabet

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.

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