Bell Bank Lowers Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Bell Bank reduced its Alphabet stake by 6.8% in Q4 to 42,056 shares (sold 3,075 shares), holdings now worth about $13.16M and representing ~0.6% of its portfolio (23rd largest position).
• Insider selling has been notable: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (~$10.0M) and insiders have sold ~2,101,844 shares worth ~$115.15M over the past 90 days, with insiders holding 11.64% of the company.
• Other institutional moves include CIBC buying a new stake of roughly $416M, hedge funds/institutions own ~40% of GOOGL, and analysts show a consensus "Moderate Buy" rating with a $367.33 price target.

Bell Bank cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 42,056 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,075 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.6% of Bell Bank's investment portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Bell Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,164,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $416,217,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $14,277,000 after buying an additional 7,180 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% during the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares during the period. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.7% during the second quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 1,457,732 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $256,896,000 after buying an additional 65,439 shares during the period. Finally, Wright Investors Service Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 21.2% in the third quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,171,000 after acquiring an additional 8,746 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, 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. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,101,844 shares of company stock worth $115,147,751. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $295.77 on Friday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $309.29 and its 200-day simple moving average is $296.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The stock has a market capitalization 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Pivotal Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group set a $348.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of Alphabet from a "moderate buy" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $367.33.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

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

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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