Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Howard Capital Management Group LLC

Key Points

• Howard Capital Management Group LLC trimmed its stake in Alphabet (GOOGL) by 3.3% in Q4, selling 10,110 shares and holding 296,536 shares worth about $92.8 million, which represents 5.9% of its portfolio and is its fourth-largest holding.
• Company insiders have been net sellers recently — including CAO Amie Thuener O’toole and John Kent Walker — with insiders offloading about 2,069,344 shares valued at $104.7 million in the last quarter, though insiders still own 11.55% of the stock.
• Wall Street and large institutions remain largely positive on Alphabet, with an average analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.92, while major funds like State Street and Capital World Investors have increased their holdings.

Howard Capital Management Group LLC reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 296,536 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 10,110 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 5.9% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Howard Capital Management Group LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $92,816,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the 3rd 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 purchasing an additional 6,874,381 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake 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 valued at $10,984,744,000 after purchasing an additional 1,034,292 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 39,250,829 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,541,877,000 after acquiring an additional 392,547 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. 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. China Renaissance upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, February 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $366.92.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on 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 directly owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 2,069,344 shares of company stock valued at $104,708,426 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Stronger AI/cloud positioning: Google expanded its multi‑year AI infrastructure partnership with Intel to co‑develop processors and power Google Cloud AI workloads — a sign of durable demand for cloud AI capacity that supports Google Cloud revenue growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom and Anthropic deals validate Google’s AI infrastructure strategy and the broader market for non‑NVIDIA accelerators — a constructive signal for Alphabet’s AI cost and supply relationships. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and media bullishness on AI adoption: BNP Paribas and other commentators highlight Gemini and Anthropic as drivers that can take share in the generative AI market, underpinning ad/productivity monetization upside for Alphabet. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Monetization tailwind — YouTube raised U.S. Premium prices, which should boost ARPU and subscription revenue over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish price‑target action from Mizuho (raised to $420) reinforces upside thesis for investors focused on long‑term AI/cloud gains. (No link)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest report is effectively meaningless/noisy for today’s move (data shows zero shares / reporting artifact), so it’s not the driver of the stock’s action. (No link)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk for Waymo: A California bill would require more human operators for robotaxis, raising operating costs and regulatory uncertainty for Alphabet’s autonomous‑vehicle ambitions. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: International/content regulatory pressure: Indonesia issued a reprimand to YouTube over new social media rules for children, underscoring regional enforcement risk that can hit engagement or require costly compliance changes. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade pressure: Wolfe Research trimmed its price target from $390 to $360, which increases short‑term selling pressure despite the firm still rating the stock “outperform.” (No link)

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $317.20 on Monday. 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 cap of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a 50-day moving average of $306.85 and a two-hundred day moving average of $299.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.10 and a 1-year high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

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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