Willis Investment Counsel grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 3.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 52,358 shares of the information services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 1,972 shares during the period. Willis Investment Counsel's holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,388,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Members Trust Co raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,014,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the period. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Lifelong Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 1,728 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. White Wing Wealth Management increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. White Wing Wealth Management now owns 1,155 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $362,000 after acquiring an additional 33 shares during the last quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 11,799 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,693,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MRA Advisory Group increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 1,310 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $410,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $332.29 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.02 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 1.12. 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 company has a 50-day simple moving average of $307.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $303.43. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $147.84 and a one year high of $349.00.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 11.53 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Announces Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued 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 dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.
Insider Transactions at Alphabet
In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,037,294 shares of company stock valued at $94,216,897 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company's stock.
Key Alphabet News
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Multiple analysts raised price targets and maintained constructive ratings, signaling Wall Street confidence (Cantor Fitzgerald to $395 and KeyCorp to $380; UBS also raised its target). These upgrades support upside expectations for GOOGL. Cantor Fitzgerald Raises Alphabet Price Target to $395
- Positive Sentiment: Google is embedding Gemini AI into Chrome for ~3.5 billion users and shipping UX features (Skills for Gemini) that could increase user engagement and ad/commerce monetization. This product-level AI push supports longer-term growth. Google Embeds AI Into Chrome for 3.5 Billion Users
- Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is deepening its AI infrastructure play — talks with Marvell on custom inference chips and continued TPU product momentum, plus a very large 2026 capex plan and a $240B Google Cloud contract backlog — which bolsters cloud margin/scale expectations and reduces reliance on third‑party GPUs. Here's Why the AI Infrastructure Story Is Just Getting Bigger for GOOGL
- Neutral Sentiment: Legal/competitive developments elsewhere may have indirect effects: a UK tribunal allowed a mass suit against Microsoft over Windows Server cloud licensing to proceed — could alter cloud pricing dynamics but outcome/impact on Google Cloud is uncertain. Microsoft must face $2.8 billion UK lawsuit
- Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was reported and cited as a driver of intraday weakness, contributing to near-term negative sentiment despite the positive fundamentals. Alphabet Shares Down Following Insider Selling
- Negative Sentiment: Ad-market competition risk: forecasts that Meta will surpass Google in ad revenue this year add pressure to the core ads growth narrative and could temper near-term revenue upside. Meta Set To Surpass Google With $243 Billion In Ad Revenue
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of brokerages have commented on GOOGL. China Renaissance lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Robert W. Baird boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $369.47.
Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Alphabet
About Alphabet
(
Free Report)
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.
See Also
Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).
This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.
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