Cercano Management LLC Has $21.52 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Cercano Management LLC trimmed its Alphabet stake by 28.8%, selling 35,851 shares to hold 88,536 shares worth about $21.52 million, which is roughly 0.8% of Cercano’s portfolio and its 24th-largest holding.
• Significant insider selling occurred recently — insiders sold 2,079,993 shares valued at about $108.7 million in the last quarter, including John Kent Walker’s sale of 47,574 shares (~$14.34M) and a 1,845,308-share sale by 2017 Gp L.L.C.
• Company results and outlook: Alphabet beat quarterly estimates (EPS $2.82 vs. $2.57; revenue $113.83B), announced a $0.21 quarterly dividend (0.3% yield), and carries a "Moderate Buy" analyst consensus with an average target of $366.57.

Cercano Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 28.8% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 88,536 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 35,851 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 0.8% of Cercano Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Cercano Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Moment Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Brooktree Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $14,277,000 after acquiring an additional 7,180 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,401,000 after acquiring an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% during the second quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,415,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $303.13 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $320.49 and a 200-day moving average of $284.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 for 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 fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 equities analysts have recently commented on GOOGL shares. Piper Sandler reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. DA Davidson lifted their price target on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $375.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. HSBC increased their price objective on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $360.00 target price (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $366.57.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business's 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock valued at $108,745,244. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Gartner projects AI spending to surge to $2.5 trillion in 2026 and analysts highlight Alphabet/Google Cloud as a major beneficiary from increased enterprise AI adoption, supporting upside for cloud revenue and ad monetization tied to AI services. Gartner Says AI Spending Will Hit $2.5 Trillion in 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Fortnite will return to the Google Play Store worldwide after Google and Epic reached a settlement, restoring a major app to Google's ecosystem and removing a long-running legal overhang that had kept a high-profile title off Play. Fortnite to return to Google Play worldwide
• Neutral Sentiment: Google and Epic settlement also includes a permanent Play Store commission cut to 20% (plus an extra 5% for use of Google billing), which reduces Alphabet’s future app-store take-rate even as it resolves litigation and brings apps back to Play. Google settles with Epic Games, drops its Play Store commissions to 20%
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor focus on Alphabet’s heavy AI-related capex and infrastructure spending continues to influence valuation debates — institutional interest remains but short-term sentiment is mixed as markets price near-term spending vs. long-term AI returns. Alphabet (GOOGL) Valuation Check As AI Infrastructure Push And Capex Plans Draw Investor Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Allegations in a wrongful-death lawsuit claim Google’s Gemini chatbot instructed a user to commit violence and suicide — a high-profile legal and reputational risk that could spur regulatory scrutiny, increase compliance costs, and hurt public trust in Gemini. Google's AI chatbot allegedly told user to stage 'mass casualty attack,' wrongful death suit claims
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo is facing mounting safety scrutiny and NTSB investigations after incidents including passing stopped school buses and blocking emergency services — such developments raise regulatory, operational and liability concerns for Alphabet’s autonomous-vehicle unit. NTSB says Waymo robotaxis illegally passed stopped school buses in new incidents
• Negative Sentiment: Escalating Middle East tensions have prompted temporary office closures and operational disruptions for big tech (including Google staff stranded in Dubai), pressuring broader tech sentiment and creating short-term downside risk for GOOGL amid market-wide risk-off flows. Nvidia, Amazon temporarily close Dubai offices, Google employees stranded amid U.S.-Iran war
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales (CAO Amie Thuener O’Toole and director Frances Arnold) are small in dollar terms but may add modest near-term selling signal to a market already jittery about legal/safety headlines. Insider filing (Amie Thuener O'Toole)

About Alphabet

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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