Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Increased by SWS Partners

Key Points

• SWS Partners boosted its stake in Alphabet by 23.5% in Q4 to 42,875 shares, worth $13.42 million and representing 2.5% of the firm's portfolio (its 9th largest holding).
• Research firms are broadly bullish—Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with a consensus price target of $366.92, and several analysts recently raised price targets and issued Buy/Strong‑Buy ratings.
• Insiders have been net sellers recently: John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares, and insiders disposed of 2,069,344 shares worth $104,708,426 over the past 90 days (insider ownership 11.64%).

SWS Partners lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 23.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,875 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 8,156 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 2.5% of SWS Partners' portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. SWS Partners' holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Bay Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Bay Capital Advisors LLC now owns 6,788 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,125,000 after buying an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Trust Co. of Vermont now owns 91,020 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $28,489,000 after purchasing an additional 1,161 shares in the last quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 2,037.1% during the fourth quarter. F&V Capital Management LLC now owns 22,867 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,157,000 after purchasing an additional 21,797 shares in the last quarter. Applied Capital LLC FL purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $213,000. Finally, Oldfather Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 75.6% during the fourth quarter. Oldfather Financial Services LLC now owns 3,249 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,017,000 after purchasing an additional 1,399 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Loop Capital increased their price target on Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Finally, New Street Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $366.92.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,069,344 shares of company stock worth $104,708,426. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $317.20 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $146.10 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $306.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $298.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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 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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