Quilter Plc Sells 5,413 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Quilter Plc trimmed its Alphabet stake by 6.0%, selling 5,413 shares and leaving 84,171 shares worth about $26.41 million at the end of the quarter.
• Wall Street is broadly bullish on Alphabet — MarketBeat shows a consensus "Buy" rating with a $345.71 target, and several firms recently raised targets (JPMorgan to $395, Needham to $400).
• Significant insider selling was reported: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (~$10.6M) and insiders disposed of ~2.07M shares (~$104.7M) over the past 90 days, though insiders still own about 12.99% of the company.

Quilter Plc trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 84,171 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 5,413 shares during the quarter. Quilter Plc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,413,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tradewinds LLC. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2,134.8% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 45,098 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $10,984,000 after acquiring an additional 43,080 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 29,896 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,381,000 after acquiring an additional 2,341 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 31.3% during the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 354,529 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $86,345,000 after acquiring an additional 84,553 shares during the period. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the third quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 221,391 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $53,920,000 after acquiring an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $900,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $365.00 price target (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, KeyCorp set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $345.71.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: YouTube is raising U.S. subscription prices while the subscriber base tops ~125M, supporting higher ARPU and recurring revenue for Alphabet. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Google and Intel expanded a multi-year AI infrastructure partnership, reducing execution risk for Google Cloud’s AI capacity buildout and lowering costs for large model workloads. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Top analysts and boutiques reinstated bullish views and flagged upside (one analyst sees 30%+ upside), reinforcing momentum narratives around Cloud and AI monetization. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Longer-term optionality — fractional exposure to a potential SpaceX IPO value and sustained Google Cloud growth — remains a tailwind for longer-horizon investors. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s board approved new long-term equity awards to executives — standard for tech firms but could be viewed as modest dilution; monitor details when full filings are available. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF news (Roundhill GOOGL WeeklyPay distribution) and various market write-ups keep Alphabet in focus but are unlikely to move the stock materially on their own. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Short interest jumped in March to ~44.0M shares (+26.8% vs. mid‑March), representing roughly 0.4% of float and a short‑interest ratio near 1.9 days — rising short activity can amplify downside on negative headlines. (Market data)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal friction: Indonesia issued a reprimand over YouTube compliance and a California bill would add costs/constraints for Waymo’s robotaxi operations — both increase near‑term policy risk for ad and autonomous-vehicle initiatives. Article Title Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Some institutional trimming (reported stake reductions) and notes flagging stretched valuation/multiple compression risk could pressure the shares despite solid fundamentals. Article Title Article Title

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares in the company, valued at $723,945,705.60. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,069,344 shares of company stock worth $104,708,426 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.0%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $315.73 on Monday. 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 $148.40 and a 1 year high of $350.15. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $306.32 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $299.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.82 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a PEG ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.13.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

About Alphabet

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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