Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 22,934 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC acquired 22,934 shares of Alphabet (~$5.575M) in Q3, making GOOGL its 5th‑largest holding and accounting for 3.2% of the fund's portfolio.
• Analysts are largely positive: the consensus rating is a Moderate Buy with an average price target of $367.18, and several firms have raised targets into the $375–$400 range.
• Significant insider selling has occurred recently — insiders sold 2,112,493 shares worth $118.6M in the last 90 days, including a 1.845M‑share sale by 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv and a 47,574‑share sale by John Kent Walker.

Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 22,934 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,575,000. Alphabet accounts for 3.2% of Benchmark Investment Advisors LLC's holdings, making the stock its 5th biggest holding.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital Wealth Planning LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 236.4% in the third quarter. Capital Wealth Planning LLC now owns 90,433 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $21,984,000 after acquiring an additional 63,554 shares in the last quarter. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 32.2% in the third quarter. Columbus Hill Capital Management L.P. now owns 197,515 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $48,016,000 after buying an additional 48,100 shares during the last quarter. Dodge & Cox grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Dodge & Cox now owns 11,338,777 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,756,457,000 after acquiring an additional 63,559 shares in the last quarter. Fernbridge Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $20,973,000. Finally, FORA Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $12,411,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major competitor Meta has delayed a next‑generation AI release and reportedly discussed temporarily licensing Google’s Gemini model, which could help Alphabet expand usage/licensing of its AI stack and win incremental share. Meta delays release; may license Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Needham & Company reaffirmed a "buy" on GOOGL and set a $400 price target (~32% upside from current levels), which can support investor confidence and buying interest. Needham reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlight Meta falling behind on large AI models (and considering licensing Google tech), reinforcing the view that Google could capture market share in foundational models and services. Meta falling behind — Yahoo
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Alphabet's earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch GOOGL, supporting a constructive fundamental view after recent results. Zacks: earnings growth & price strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Google, Amazon and Meta pushing their own AI chips signals a structural shift in AI infrastructure — a long‑term positive if Google’s stack wins, but it intensifies competition with incumbents like NVIDIA and may pressure margins/capex. AI chips competition — Yahoo
• Neutral Sentiment: Google sold a partial stake in its GFiber unit and partnered to form a new independent fiber provider; this reduces direct capital burden but also trims ownership of the broadband growth asset. GFiber stake sale — CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/PR note: Google named its London HQ "Platform 37" referencing DeepMind/AlphaGo success — modestly positive for culture/AI branding but not material to near‑term financials. Platform 37 naming — Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulator and wider regulatory scrutiny on tech safety and child protection remain overhangs for Big Tech, including Alphabet, since new rules or enforcement could increase compliance costs or constrain certain services. UK regulator warning — Sky

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and issued a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wolfe Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim restated a "buy" rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $367.18.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the company'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 sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,112,493 shares of company stock worth $118,605,094 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $302.28 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $319.12 and a 200-day moving average of $289.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $111.24 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued 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 is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 7.77%.

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.