First Trust Advisors LP Sells 531,018 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• First Trust Advisors LP cut its Alphabet stake by 21.1% in Q3, selling 531,018 shares and leaving 1,989,484 shares valued at about $484.5 million per its latest 13F filing.
• Significant insider selling has also occurred: director John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares for roughly $14.34 million, and insiders have sold about 2,112,493 shares (~$118.6 million) over the past 90 days, with insiders now owning 12.99% of the stock.
• Alphabet beat Q4 estimates (EPS $2.82 vs. $2.59; revenue $113.83B vs. $111.24B), analysts remain largely bullish with an average rating of "Buy" and a mean target of $343.90, and the company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.21 payable March 16.

First Trust Advisors LP cut its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 21.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,989,484 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 531,018 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $484,539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,070 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $504,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Searle & CO. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 5,703 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,389,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 5,846 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,424,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the period. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the third quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,143 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $766,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Finally, Activest Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the third quarter. Activest Wealth Management now owns 7,997 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,948,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $395.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank raised shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $343.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm'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 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $298.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. The business's 50 day moving average is $320.28 and its 200-day moving average is $286.82. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during 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%.The firm's quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large enterprise/cloud wins and AI demand: Google Cloud deals (CVS health AI platform) and reported TPU leasing by Meta point to higher recurring cloud revenue and infrastructure utilization that support near‑term revenue growth. CVS taps Google Cloud Meta leases Google TPUs
• Positive Sentiment: Solid fundamentals/analyst support: Q4 results and earnings beats reinforce the “quality growth” narrative, and Bank of America’s reiterated Buy/$370 target keeps bull case intact. Q4 quality growth Bank of America maintains $370
• Neutral Sentiment: Anthropic access clarified: Google says Anthropic remains available for non‑defense uses after a DoD blacklist — this reduces near‑term disruption risk to customers but leaves policy uncertainty around defense contracts. Google on Anthropic availability
• Neutral Sentiment: Market narrative shifting: Analysts note GOOG’s strong 12‑month run has moved it from a “value” label to an execution/AI‑growth story — bullish if growth continues, but raises expectations. Forbes valuation piece
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical / physical risk to infrastructure: Reports that hyperscaler data centers are becoming military targets in the Iran war increase operational and security risk for cloud operations and potential outages. Data centers targeted
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal headwinds and fee cuts: The Epic Games settlement (lower Play Store commissions) and a high‑profile Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit raise revenue/margin and liability concerns for consumer services. Play Store settlement Gemini lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory scrutiny on Waymo / AV safety and technical/short‑term chart pressure: NTSB/industry scrutiny of autonomous‑vehicle safety plus technical analysts calling a short thesis add to near‑term selling pressure. Waymo NTSB scrutiny Chart short thesis

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc NASDAQ: GOOG is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as "Other Bets." Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company's history.

Alphabet's core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company's ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.

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