Country Trust Bank Has $68.67 Million Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Country Trust Bank trimmed its position in Alphabet by 7.3% in Q4, selling 17,155 shares and leaving it with 219,399 shares valued at about $68.67 million, which represents 1.2% of the bank’s holdings and is its 22nd largest holding.
• Alphabet has several near‑term positives — a long‑term power deal supporting a large Indiana data center, reports Google is in talks to let the Pentagon deploy Gemini in classified settings, and new consumer AI/photo features — alongside analyst price‑target increases that are supporting investor sentiment ahead of earnings.
• Offsetting those positives, insiders have sold significant stock recently (including Sundar Pichai and John Kent Walker; insiders sold ~2.07M shares worth ~$104.5M over the past three months), and the EU’s push to force Google to share wide ranges of search/chatbot data poses a major regulatory overhang.

Country Trust Bank lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 7.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 219,399 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 17,155 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.2% of Country Trust Bank's holdings, making the stock its 22nd largest holding. Country Trust Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: NiSource signed a long‑term power supply agreement with an Alphabet unit to support a large Indiana data center, reducing energy‑supply risk and supporting capacity expansion on which cloud/AI revenue depends. NiSource signs long-term power deal with Alphabet, expands Amazon agreement
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Google is negotiating a deal to allow the Pentagon to deploy its Gemini models in classified settings — a potential high‑value government customer and proof point for Gemini’s enterprise/security positioning. Google, Pentagon discuss classified AI deal, the Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: Google expanded consumer AI features: users can now link personal photos to Gemini and Nano Banana for personalized image generation — an engagement and monetization positive for search/assistant and image services. Google will let users connect their photos to the Gemini chatbot and Nano Banana
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street momentum: Citi and Phillip Securities raised price targets (Citi to $405; Phillip to $395) and several bullish analyst notes were published ahead of Q1 results, which can support near‑term buying interest. Wall Street sets Google stock price target for the next twelve months Phillip Securities adjusts price target on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary (Zacks) highlights Alphabet’s strong earnings‑surprise history and suggests conditions are favorable for another upside surprise in the next report — supportive for investor sentiment ahead of earnings. Will Alphabet (GOOG) Beat Estimates Again in Its Next Earnings Report?
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry note: reports about Anthropic exploring custom chips point to broader AI infrastructure shifts that could reshape supplier dynamics (Broadcom, Nvidia) but have indirect implications for Alphabet’s cost/partner ecosystem. Why Anthropic's Custom Chip Plans Could Benefit Broadcom (GOOGL)
• Neutral Sentiment: Google reported blocking a record number of bad ads while suspending fewer advertisers, raising platform‑quality and moderation questions but not an immediate revenue threat. Google is now targeting bad ads over bad actors
• Negative Sentiment: The European Commission told Google it must give rival search engines access to wide ranges of search and chatbot data under DMA compliance proposals — a major regulatory overhang that could affect search advantages, ad targeting data and competitive moat. Google should allow third-party search engines access to data, EU says
• Negative Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus reduced expectations for Alphabet’s stock price, adding a modest negative analyst view amid mixed signals; this may add some selling pressure for momentum traders. Stifel Nicolaus Has Lowered Expectations for Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL Stock Price

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,818,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $856,605,814.08. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,068,744 shares of company stock worth $104,505,914 over the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Wedbush raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. DA Davidson boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $375.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. New Street Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $367.62.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $336.02 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.06 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The business's 50-day moving average is $306.45 and its 200-day moving average is $300.68. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $146.10 and a 1 year high of $349.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

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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