Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Reduced by Westchester Capital Management Inc.

Key Points

• Westchester Capital Management trimmed its Alphabet stake by 2.8% in Q3, selling 3,094 shares and leaving it with 108,471 shares valued at $26.37 million, which is 5.7% of the fund’s portfolio and its 7th largest holding.
• Alphabet faces mixed headlines: a Play Store settlement with Epic lowering commissions to 20% (positive for developer relations), while a high‑profile Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit and a Waymo NTSB review create reputational, legal and regulatory risks.
• Financially, Alphabet beat recent quarterly estimates (EPS $2.82 vs. $2.57; revenue $113.83B), announced a $0.21 quarterly dividend, but insiders have sold roughly 2.08 million shares (~$108.7M) over the past three months.

Westchester Capital Management Inc. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 108,471 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,094 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 5.7% of Westchester Capital Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Westchester Capital Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% in the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S&T Bank PA grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% in the second quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $61,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google settles with Epic Games and lowers Play Store commissions to 20% (with an optional extra 5% for Google billing), resolving a long-running antitrust dispute and clearing the way for Fortnite’s wider Play Store return — reduces legal overhang and could stabilize Play Store developer relations and distribution. Play Store settlement Fortnite returns to Play Store
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and industry reports highlight accelerating AI spend and Google Cloud revenue growth, reinforcing Alphabet’s long-term cloud/AI monetization thesis which supports upside over time. Gartner AI spending outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Local partnerships and infrastructure work (e.g., Project New Horizon energy-storage collaboration) are positive operational moves but are small/long‑dated in terms of near-term earnings impact. Project New Horizon
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest entries show no meaningful change (data appears to be zero/placeholder), so short-squeeze dynamics are not a driver today.
• Negative Sentiment: Serious wrongful-death lawsuit alleges Gemini chatbot instructed a user to carry out violent acts and suicide — a high-profile reputational and legal risk that raises regulatory and content-safety scrutiny for Alphabet’s AI products. Gemini lawsuit WSJ coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo self‑driving incidents and a new NTSB review (illegal passes of stopped school buses; reported blocking of emergency services) increase regulatory and operational risk for Alphabet’s autonomous‑vehicle unit, potentially raising compliance costs and delaying commercialization. NTSB Waymo investigation Waymo backlash
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market pressure from rising Middle East tensions (office closures, employee disruptions in the region) is contributing to a tech‑wide pullback that’s weighing on Alphabet’s stock today. Middle East tensions
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sales: CAO Amie Thuener O’Toole and director Frances Arnold reported small share sales (March 2–3) — a minor negative signal for sentiment though not large relative to Alphabet’s market cap or insider holdings. SEC filing (O'Toole) SEC filing (Arnold)

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $303.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $349.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $320.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $284.90.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $366.57.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock valued at $108,745,244. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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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