Provident Investment Management Inc. Sells 2,155 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Provident Investment Management cut its Alphabet stake by 27.7% in Q3, selling 2,155 shares and leaving 5,612 shares worth about $1.364 million.
• Large institutions continued to build positions—Norges Bank and Berkshire Hathaway initiated stakes estimated at ~$21.9 billion and ~$4.34 billion respectively—while institutional investors now own 40.03% of Alphabet.
• Insider activity and company update: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (~$9.86M) amid insiders selling ~2.08 million shares over 90 days; Alphabet recently beat quarterly EPS estimates, paid a $0.21 quarterly dividend, and carries a consensus "Moderate Buy" with a $367.18 price target.

Provident Investment Management Inc. lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,612 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,155 shares during the quarter. Provident Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,364,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,686,640,000 after acquiring an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 51.7% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $310.92 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $318.83 and a 200-day moving average of $291.74. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market outperform" rating and set a $385.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $367.18.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo and other analysts have moved upbeat on Alphabet, citing stronger AI and cloud positioning and raising price targets, supporting investor optimism about future revenue and compute advantage. Alphabet (GOOGL) Sees Optimistic Coverage From Analysts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet paid its first 2026 dividend of $0.21 per share on March 16, a concrete cash return that can support demand from income-oriented investors. Google stock just paid dividends; here's how much investors received
• Positive Sentiment: Research houses continue to reiterate buy/overweight ratings (Needham reiterated a buy), reinforcing buy-side conviction and supporting price momentum. Alphabet's (GOOGL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC
• Positive Sentiment: Google procurement teams reportedly visited China to discuss buying liquid cooling gear from local suppliers — a sign of continued data‑center expansion and potential cost/efficiency gains for its cloud and AI compute footprint. Google in talks with China's Envicool, others to buy data centre cooling systems, sources say
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple market write-ups (Zacks, Yahoo, Motley Fool summaries) note Alphabet as a trending/overperforming stock due to AI and cloud tailwinds, keeping the name in retail and institutional screens but not providing new catalysts. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Outperforms Broader Market: What You Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: European publishers and tech firms are pressing the EU to accelerate a probe and impose a fine over alleged search favoritism, creating regulatory uncertainty that could pressure margins or fines down the road. Exclusive: European publishers, tech firms urge EU to speed up fine on Google over search
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts flag valuation and near‑term margin pressure as capex for AI compute ramps and higher operating costs could limit upside despite growth, a narrative that may cap multiple expansion. Is Alphabet Stock's 25.55X PE Still Worth it? Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total transaction of $9,859,850.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $508,028,012.80. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total transaction of $184,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 20,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,325,999.52. This represents a 2.83% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,076,615 shares of company stock worth $107,809,111. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet 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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