Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.

Key Points

• First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. increased its Alphabet stake by 86.7% in the third quarter, adding 105,563 shares to own 227,361 shares valued at approximately $78.2 million. Institutional investors collectively hold about 40.03% of Alphabet’s stock.
• Alphabet reported quarterly earnings of $9.11 per share on revenue of $119.8 billion, exceeding analyst estimates. The company also pays a quarterly dividend of $0.22, or $0.88 annually, for a yield of roughly 0.3%.
• GOOGL shares opened at $347.64, while analysts maintain an overall “Buy” consensus with an average price target of $425.74. Positive sentiment around new AI products and infrastructure is tempered by concerns over heavy AI spending, litigation risk and insider selling.

First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 86.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 227,361 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 105,563 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.1% of First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest holding. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $78,230,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Titleist Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.4% in the third quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 34,613 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,909,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096 shares during the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $25,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. Elefante Mark B lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Elefante Mark B now owns 43,733 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $15,629,000 after acquiring an additional 1,897 shares during the period. Nwam LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.6% during the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 49,128 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,127,000 after acquiring an additional 8,055 shares during the period. Finally, WCM Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 287.4% during the first quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,886 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,063,000 after purchasing an additional 2,883 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $347.64 on Thursday. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $344.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $350.87. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market cap of $4.25 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.46, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.21. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $244.15 and a 1 year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.54 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $2,232,808.20. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 19,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,494,424.20. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 441,399 shares of company stock worth $8,677,053 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google launched Gemini 4 Argon, a new frontier AI model for developers, businesses and paid users. The model includes expanded coding and knowledge-work capabilities, potentially strengthening Alphabet’s competitive position and supporting future Cloud and subscription revenue. Google launches flagship AI model Gemini 4 Argon for developers and businesses
• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its Alphabet price target, while BNP Paribas reportedly lifted its target to $450 based partly on the outlook for Alphabet’s in-house Tensor Processing Units. Analysts see potential for the chip business to become a significant revenue opportunity. Alphabet target bumped to $450 at BNP Paribas on TPU outlook
• Positive Sentiment: American Electric Power plans to invest approximately $4 billion in Wyoming fuel-cell generation to serve Google’s growing electricity demand. The project supports Alphabet’s expanding data-center and AI infrastructure capacity, although it also highlights the significant cost of scaling AI. American Electric Power to invest $4 billion fuel-cell project to power Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google DeepMind and Google Cloud will give European researchers access to frontier AI models, potentially improving research adoption and ecosystem influence. Meanwhile, the European Commission said it remains in dialogue with Google, leaving regulatory implications unclear.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms publicized a securities class action covering investors who purchased Alphabet shares between May 19 and July 16, 2026. The lawsuit alleges Alphabet misrepresented delays and training problems involving the Gemini 3.5 Pro launch after a subsequent stock decline. The repeated notices increase headline, litigation and reputational risk, although they do not represent new findings of liability. Alphabet AI issues and subsequent stock drop trigger securities-fraud class action
• Negative Sentiment: Investor commentary also flagged heavy AI capital spending and the gap between operating cash flow and free cash flow, reinforcing concerns that data-center expansion could pressure near-term cash generation despite strong reported earnings.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen cut Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $410.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, September 3rd. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and set a $380.00 price objective (up from $379.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 17th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $425.74.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology and internet services company best known as the parent company of Google. Its primary business, Google Services, includes online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a range of hardware and subscription products.

Alphabet also operates Google Cloud, which provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, productivity software, and artificial intelligence services to businesses, governments, and other organizations.

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