Worth Asset Management LLC Increases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Worth Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 272.6% in Q4 to 8,759 shares worth $2.74 million, representing about 1.2% of the firm's holdings and its 19th-largest position.
• Company insiders have been sizable sellers — notably John Kent Walker (47,574 shares) and CEO Sundar Pichai (32,500 shares) — with insiders offloading a total of 2,101,844 shares (~$115.1 million) in the past 90 days; insiders now own 11.64% of the stock.
• Analysts remain broadly constructive: GOOGL has an average rating of Moderate Buy with a $367.33 average price target, and Alphabet recently beat quarterly EPS ($2.82) and revenue ($113.83 billion) estimates.

Worth Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 272.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 8,759 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,408 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.2% of Worth Asset Management LLC's holdings, making the stock its 19th largest holding. Worth Asset Management LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a "market perform" rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. DZ Bank reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Wedbush upped their price target on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $367.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,818,524 shares in the company, valued at $856,605,814.08. This trade represents a 1.14% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $295.77 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 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 firm's fifty day moving average is $309.29 and its 200 day moving average is $296.27. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 analysts' expectations of $111.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive — Wells Fargo kept an overweight rating (while trimming targets), and other outlets highlight Buy/Outperform views that point to meaningful upside from cloud/AI monetization. Wells Fargo Raised the PT on Alphabet Inc (GOOGL), Maintains a Buy Rating
• Positive Sentiment: Product/efficiency wins: Google’s Gemma 4 and the TurboQuant algorithm reduce model memory needs and improve on‑device/model efficiency — strengthens competitive moat and could lower operating costs for AI services. Google's Gemma 4 brings AI superpowers to your device Google's TurboQuant Breakthrough Just Rewrote the AI Playbook
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamental/earnings confidence: coverage from Zacks and others flags Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch the stock heading into earnings season. Earnings Growth & Price Strength Make Alphabet (GOOGL) a Stock to Watch
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent movement: Broadcom named Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as its next CFO — notable departure to monitor but not an immediate earnings event. Broadcom taps Alphabet executive Amie Thuener as next CFO
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory probe in Turkey: the Turkish Competition Board opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — potential fines, business restrictions or remediation costs could hit ad revenue/operations in the region. Turkey launches investigation into Google over advertising, billing practices
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risk rises as Section 230 liability narrows: recent court losses for platforms (including YouTube/Google units) increase the probability of costly litigation and moderation compliance burdens. Meta, Google under attack as court cases bypass 30-year-old legal shield
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term cash‑flow and capex concern: industry commentary warns that hyperscaler AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — elevates execution and financing risk until monetization of AI investments scales. Semianalysis CEO: Google's free cash flow will hit zero next year from AI capex
• Negative Sentiment: Operational/ESG risk from data‑center power strategy: reporting that hyperscalers (including Google) are building large natural‑gas plants to power AI centers raises reputational, regulatory and long‑term transition risks. AI companies are building huge natural gas plants to power data centers. What could go wrong?
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: an SEC filing shows a senior exec sold ~9k shares in late March — modest in dollar terms but can be read negatively by short‑term traders. Insider Selling: Alphabet NASDAQ: GOOGL Insider Sells 8,993 Shares of Stock

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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