GraniteShares Advisors LLC Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• GraniteShares Advisors LLC dramatically reduced its stake in Alphabet, cutting its position by 98.1% in Q4 after selling 16,022 shares and leaving the fund with 313 shares worth about $98,000.
• Alphabet reported an earnings beat (Q: $2.82 EPS vs. $2.57 est.; revenue $113.83B vs. $111.24B) and enjoys generally positive analyst sentiment—MarketBeat shows a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a ~$367.62 price target—though regulatory and competitive risks could weigh on shares.
• Significant insider activity: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares for roughly $10.0M, and insiders have sold about 2,068,744 shares (~$104.5M) in the past 90 days, though insiders still own ~11.64% of the company.

GraniteShares Advisors LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 98.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 313 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 16,022 shares during the quarter. GraniteShares Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $98,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $53,000. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $54,000. Finally, Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 278.8% during the fourth quarter. Maryland Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 250 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $78,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $337.12 on Thursday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $306.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $300.43. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.08 trillion, a PE ratio of 31.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.12. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the sale, the director owned 18,418 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,068,744 shares of company stock worth $104,505,914 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial set a $385.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 8th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $367.62.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Several brokerages raised ratings and targets for Alphabet, boosting investor confidence (Phillip Securities raised its price target to $395). Phillip Securities Adjusts Price Target on Alphabet to $395
• Positive Sentiment: Citi raised its price target to the low-$400s and put Alphabet on a 90-day catalyst watch, highlighting near-term product/event catalysts ahead of Q1 results. Wall Street sets Google stock price target for the next 12 months
• Positive Sentiment: Stifel Nicolaus published a buy on GOOGL (supporting demand for the shares). Alphabet Class A (GOOGL) Receives a Buy from Stifel Nicolaus
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and outlets are flagging Alphabet as a top long-term/momentum AI play and noting an impressive history of earnings surprises — supporting expectations for another beat. Will Alphabet (GOOGL) Beat Estimates Again?
• Positive Sentiment: Partnerships and ecosystem wins (e.g., expanded GitLab integration with Google Cloud) underline GCP traction and recurring-revenue opportunities for cloud customers. GitLab Stock Jumps on Google Cloud Boost
• Neutral Sentiment: Market-level commentary notes a broader tech/Nasdaq rebound and that many investors remain underexposed, which can amplify inflows into large-cap AI leaders like Alphabet. The Bull Case Is Strengthening
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage and price-target moves are concentrated ahead of the April 29 Q1 report, so short-term volatility could increase around that catalyst. Wall Street sets Google stock price target for the next twelve months
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk resurfaced as rival app store Aptoide sued Google, alleging anti-competitive app distribution and billing practices — a fresh antitrust legal overhang. Google sued by rival app store Aptoide
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive threats to ad revenue (notably from Meta) and reports about structural shifts in the ad market could pressure growth long term. Zuckerberg Is Dangerously Close To Cracking Google's Money Machine
• Negative Sentiment: Security/ad-integrity concerns (HUMAN’s report on AI-driven ad fraud/scareware) pose reputational and monetization risks for Google’s content-distribution channels. HUMAN’s Satori Researchers Identify Novel Ad Fraud
• Negative Sentiment: Some reports also note Stifel lowered expectations in an alternate notice, highlighting that not all analyst commentary is uniformly bullish — a reminder of mixed analyst views. Stifel Nicolaus Has Lowered Expectations for Alphabet

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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