Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $889.18 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services raised its Alphabet stake 1.6% to 2,832,050 shares valued at about $889.18 million, making GOOGL 1.2% of the firm's portfolio and its 11th-largest holding.
• Analysts remain broadly positive with a MarketBeat consensus of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target of $367.18, after multiple firms raised price targets (Evercore $400, Canaccord $415, etc.).
• Insider selling and near-term risks: insiders sold 2,110,165 shares (~$118.1M) in the last 90 days (insiders own 11.64%), while Alphabet faces legal/regulatory headwinds (a recent LA verdict against YouTube) and investor concerns over large 2026 capex and AI/data-center costs.

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,832,050 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 45,365 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.2% of Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $889,175,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 37.9% in the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 89 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a "market perform" rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. UBS Group set a $348.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $367.18.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the 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 completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,631 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,405,091.71. The trade was a 18.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock worth $118,134,117. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Alphabet is among stocks that have received multiple analyst upgrades and raised price targets after strong AI and cloud results, underpinning longer‑term upside expectations. Zacks: Alphabet is a strong growth stock
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini monetization / retail tie‑ups: Gap will enable checkout inside Google’s Gemini, a step toward direct commerce monetization for the AI platform. This could help diversify revenue beyond search advertising. CNBC: Gap becomes first to offer checkout within Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud & partnerships: New deals — Openreach using Google AI to speed fibre rollout and BMO/CME launching a tokenized cash platform on Google Cloud — highlight enterprise demand for Google Cloud services and potential revenue tailwinds. Reuters: Openreach taps Google AI Reuters: BMO to launch tokenized cash platform with CME and Google Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Robotics / AI roadmap: DeepMind/Google partnership activity (e.g., Agile Robots) signals long‑term AI/robotics ambitions but is capital‑intensive and will take time to monetize. CNBC: Google partners with Agile Robots
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory/market structure watch: EU antitrust meetings with Big Tech and Google’s initiative in India to label verified investment apps are regulatory items to monitor — could mean more oversight but also proactive controls limiting consumer harm. Reuters: EU antitrust chief meets tech CEOs Reuters: Google to label verified investment apps in India
• Negative Sentiment: Landmark LA verdict — legal overhang: A Los Angeles jury found Google’s YouTube (and Meta’s Instagram) negligent in a youth social‑media addiction case, awarding compensatory damages and moving to a punitive phase. The decision creates precedent risk, could spur additional suits, and has been cited as a near‑term driver of selling pressure. Reuters: Jury reaches verdict in Meta, Google trial BusinessWire: $3M compensatory verdict
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/earnings risk: Investors remain concerned about Alphabet’s very large 2026 capex guidance, rising energy costs for AI/data centers, and a recent pullback in the stock — factors that could compress near‑term returns despite long‑term growth potential. Barron's: Google stock slides toward bear market territory

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $290.93 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a 50 day moving average of $315.22 and a 200-day moving average of $294.43.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

About Alphabet

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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