J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG Boosts Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG increased its stake in Alphabet by 9.6% in Q4, acquiring 10,294 shares to hold 117,283 shares valued at about $36.8 million.
• Insider selling has been significant: 2017 Gp L.L.C. sold 1,845,308 shares and CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares, with insiders offloading 2,101,844 shares worth $115.15 million in the past 90 days; corporate insiders now own 12.99% of the company.
• Alphabet posted strong results and pays a dividend: Q earnings beat (EPS $2.82 vs. $2.59 est.) with revenue $113.83 billion (+18% YoY), the company paid a $0.21 quarterly dividend ($0.84 annualized, 0.3% yield), and analysts hold a consensus "Buy" with a $345.71 price target.

J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 117,283 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,294 shares during the quarter. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG's holdings in Alphabet were worth $36,803,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $33,511,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,266 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $24,240,469,000 after purchasing an additional 7,904,434 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,749,864,000 after purchasing an additional 2,209,203 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,583,332 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,935,671,000 after purchasing an additional 223,743 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 28,625,464 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $6,971,769,000 after purchasing an additional 539,679 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,818,524 shares of the company's stock, valued at $856,605,814.08. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $294.46 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.13. The company has a fifty day moving average of $309.00 and a 200 day moving average of $296.60. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The business 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%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were 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 was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Gemma 4, an open‑source AI model family that strengthens Google’s developer ecosystem and supports future cloud/AI revenue opportunities. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Google updated Gemini API pricing with “Flex” and “Priority” tiers to balance speed, cost and reliability — that could broaden usage, enable more price‑sensitive workloads, and boost API adoption/revenue. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Technical advances like TurboQuant (memory/compression for large models) can lower infrastructure costs for AI workloads and improve margins over time — a structural benefit to Google’s cloud/AI economics. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo and other analysts remain constructive (Overweight/Buy) but have trimmed price targets — signaling confidence in the long run while dialing back near‑term expectations. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market/ETF flows continue to amplify Alphabet’s moves (SPY/QQQ dynamics): macro risk‑on/off days can create outsized short‑term volatility for big caps. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Big Tech H‑1B filings have fallen, reflecting broader hiring freezes/reshuffling across the sector — not an Alphabet‑specific revenue issue but a labor/strategy signal. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Turkey’s competition authority opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — regulatory probes risk fines, remedial costs and local ad‑revenue disruption. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s principal accounting officer, Amie Thuener O’Toole, is leaving (joining Broadcom as CFO) — departure of a senior finance leader creates some short‑term transition risk for controls and reporting. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Semianalysis warned heavy AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — investors sensitive to FCF may penalize valuation if spending outpaces monetization. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling by senior executives (e.g., John Kent Walker) adds to near‑term negative sentiment, especially amid market sensitivity to insider activity. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader legal pressure on platforms (recent cases challenging Section 230 protections) raises regulatory and litigation risk for YouTube/Google content/ad products. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, March 13th. UBS Group restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $348.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Wedbush reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "market outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $345.71.

Alphabet Company 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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