Eastern Bank Sells 12,380 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Eastern Bank trimmed its stake in Alphabet by 1.6%, selling 12,380 shares and leaving 751,855 shares worth $235.33 million — Alphabet represents about 4.1% of the bank's portfolio and is its fifth-largest holding.
• Notable insider selling: Director John L. Hennessy and CEO Sundar Pichai reported sales (1,050 and 32,500 shares respectively), and insiders have sold a total of 2,101,844 shares worth $115.15 million in the past three months, while insiders still own 11.64% of the company.
• Analyst outlook mixed but constructive: Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $367.33, with analysts highlighting AI/cloud upside but flagging regulatory probes and heavy AI capex as key risks.

Eastern Bank trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 751,855 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,380 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 4.1% of Eastern Bank's portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Eastern Bank's holdings in Alphabet were worth $235,331,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. State Street Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the 3rd quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,984,744,000 after buying an additional 1,034,292 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,405,091.71. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,101,844 shares of company stock worth $115,147,751 in the last three months. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, March 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $397.00 to $361.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Wedbush boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three 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 company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $367.33.

More Alphabet News

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 Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $295.77 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $349.00. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $309.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $296.27.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend 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.

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