Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Cidel Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Cidel Asset Management trimmed its Alphabet stake by 4.6%, selling 1,592 shares and holding 33,314 shares worth about $10.43 million after the quarter.
• Alphabet recently beat Q1 estimates with $2.82 EPS (vs. $2.57 expected) and $113.83B revenue, and the stock trades near $337 with a market cap of about $4.08 trillion.
• Wall Street is broadly bullish—analysts have raised price targets (average ~$367.62) and large institutions like Berkshire added sizable positions—yet notable insider selling and regulatory/ad-market risks (including an Aptoide lawsuit and ad-fraud concerns) pose potential headwinds.

Cidel Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 33,314 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,592 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,427,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,338,397,000. Capital World Investors raised 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 worth $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its position in Alphabet by 15.7% during the third 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. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP raised its position in Alphabet by 23,402.1% during the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 6,118,547 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,487,419,000 after acquiring an additional 6,092,513 shares during the period. Finally, Coatue Management LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 259.1% during the third quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 7,221,115 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,755,453,000 after acquiring an additional 5,210,434 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $337.12 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $306.35 and a 200-day simple moving average of $300.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $146.10 and a 52 week high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its 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. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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 $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction 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. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,068,744 shares of company stock valued at $104,505,914. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several brokerages raised ratings and targets for Alphabet, boosting investor confidence (Phillip Securities raised its price target to $395). Phillip Securities Adjusts Price Target on Alphabet to $395
• Positive Sentiment: Citi raised its price target to the low-$400s and put Alphabet on a 90-day catalyst watch, highlighting near-term product/event catalysts ahead of Q1 results. Wall Street sets Google stock price target for the next 12 months
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus published a buy on GOOGL (supporting demand for the shares). Alphabet Class A (GOOGL) Receives a Buy from Stifel Nicolaus
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and outlets are flagging Alphabet as a top long-term/momentum AI play and noting an impressive history of earnings surprises — supporting expectations for another beat. Will Alphabet (GOOGL) Beat Estimates Again?
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships and ecosystem wins (e.g., expanded GitLab integration with Google Cloud) underline GCP traction and recurring-revenue opportunities for cloud customers. GitLab Stock Jumps on Google Cloud Boost
• Neutral Sentiment: Market-level commentary notes a broader tech/Nasdaq rebound and that many investors remain underexposed, which can amplify inflows into large-cap AI leaders like Alphabet. The Bull Case Is Strengthening
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage and price-target moves are concentrated ahead of the April 29 Q1 report, so short-term volatility could increase around that catalyst. Wall Street sets Google stock price target for the next twelve months
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk resurfaced as rival app store Aptoide sued Google, alleging anti-competitive app distribution and billing practices — a fresh antitrust legal overhang. Google sued by rival app store Aptoide
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive threats to ad revenue (notably from Meta) and reports about structural shifts in the ad market could pressure growth long term. Zuckerberg Is Dangerously Close To Cracking Google's Money Machine
• Negative Sentiment: Security/ad-integrity concerns (HUMAN’s report on AI-driven ad fraud/scareware) pose reputational and monetization risks for Google’s content-distribution channels. HUMAN’s Satori Researchers Identify Novel Ad Fraud
• Negative Sentiment: Some reports also note Stifel lowered expectations in an alternate notice, highlighting that not all analyst commentary is uniformly bullish — a reminder of mixed analyst views. Stifel Nicolaus Has Lowered Expectations for Alphabet

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. President Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Wedbush upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Loop Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC restated a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Three 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $367.62.

Alphabet 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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