Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Canoe Financial LP

Key Points

• Canoe Financial LP trimmed its stake in Alphabet by 12.9% in Q4, selling 152,100 shares and leaving it with 1,024,214 shares worth about $320.6 million (Alphabet is Canoe’s 3rd largest holding at 4.4%).
• Institutional and analyst sentiment remains broadly positive: large investors (State Street, Norges Bank, Capital World Investors) have been adding positions, institutional ownership is ~40%, and analysts’ consensus is a “Moderate Buy” with an average price target of $367.33.
• Near-term risks are rising: regulators (Turkey probe), legal pressure (narrowing Section 230 protections), heavy AI capex that could hit free cash flow, and recent insider sales (e.g., John Kent Walker sold ~9k shares) could weigh on the stock.

Canoe Financial LP trimmed its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 12.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,024,214 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 152,100 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 4.4% of Canoe Financial LP's holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest holding. Canoe Financial LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $320,579,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $21,944,208,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in Alphabet by 28.0% during 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 during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its holdings in Alphabet by 15.7% during the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,333,076,000 after acquiring an additional 6,874,381 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,984,744,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,292 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Alphabet News

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the transaction, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 2,101,844 shares of company stock worth $115,147,751 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Roth Mkm upped their target price on Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. China Renaissance lifted their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price target on Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $367.33.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $295.77 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The business's fifty day moving average is $309.29 and its 200 day moving average is $296.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. 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 analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Alphabet Company Profile

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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