Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Cuts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Salem Investment Counselors trimmed its stake in Alphabet by 2.7% in Q4, selling 7,449 shares and leaving it with 268,004 shares worth $83.9 million (Alphabet is 2.4% of the firm's portfolio and its 11th largest holding).
• Analysts remain broadly constructive—many have raised price targets and cited AI innovation and solid fundamentals (a recent earnings beat and cloud/ad resilience) as reasons for upside, with an average target near $368.
• Near-term headwinds include a technical pullback and broader tech selloff plus a growing legal/regulatory overhang (jury verdicts, new lawsuits), and recent insider selling that could pressure sentiment.

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 268,004 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,449 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.4% of Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $83,885,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after purchasing an additional 6,874,381 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and price-target raises reinforce bullish medium-term views — Wells Fargo raised its price target and kept an Overweight rating, and Needham reaffirmed its Buy with a $400 target; MarketBeat and other outlets note heavy analyst upgrading of GOOGL. These moves support upside expectations despite short-term weakness. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI innovation (TurboQuant / Gemini traction) is being framed as a competitive advantage — the company’s new compression research and Gemini adoption could lower AI operating costs and drive product differentiation, strengthening long-term revenue prospects. This is part of why some analysts lifted estimates and price targets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals remain solid: recent earnings beat, robust cloud growth and advertising resilience provide a valuation anchor and a reason many institutions view pullbacks as buying opportunities. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical correction — the stock has moved below $300 and broken key short-term support, which can amplify volatility even if the longer-term trend stays intact; investors should watch $280–$260 support zones. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Executive departure in India: Google’s top India counsel resigned amid ongoing regulatory challenges in a key market, a factor to monitor for regional regulatory execution but not an immediate earnings driver. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Landmark jury verdicts finding YouTube/Google liable in social-media addiction cases have created legal overhang and the possibility of broader litigation or regulatory exposure — courts and commentators compare potential fallout to past “Big Tobacco”-style settlements, increasing perceived legal risk for Alphabet. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: New lawsuits allege Google’s search/AI features disclosed personal information of Jeffrey Epstein victims; such privacy/AI-related claims add another legal/regulatory headline that can pressure sentiment and increase potential litigation costs or product changes. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech selloff — geopolitical war worries and landmark Meta legal losses have sparked rotation out of large-cap tech this week, amplifying Alphabet’s decline despite company-specific strengths. Market risk sentiment is a near-term headwind. Read More.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $274.34 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $313.07 and its 200 day simple moving average is $295.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.38, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during 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%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 4,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock valued at $118,134,117. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. DZ Bank reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. New Street Research raised their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a report on Monday, February 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $368.06.

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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