Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Purchased by LSV Asset Management

LSV Asset Management lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 301.4% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,553,418 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,917,246 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.4% of LSV Asset Management’s holdings, making the stock its 2nd largest holding. LSV Asset Management’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $620,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 51.7% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 6,733,278 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in Alphabet by 201.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,153,824,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374,542 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $313.00 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $320.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.27. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock valued at $119,145,289. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is folding its robotics-software unit Intrinsic into Google, signalling tighter integration of robotics/physical AI efforts and likely faster commercialization of automation tools. Former Alphabet ‘moonshot’ robotics company Intrinsic is folding into Google
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo is expanding robotaxi testing to Chicago and Charlotte, accelerating route expansion and potential near-term revenue scale for Alphabet’s autonomous-vehicle unit. Waymo to begin testing in Chicago and Charlotte
• Positive Sentiment: Samsung’s S26 demonstrates deeper adoption of Google’s Gemini (autonomously operating third‑party apps), which supports Gemini’s distribution thesis and monetization pathway across devices. Samsung’s S26 gives an advance look at what the Google-powered Apple Siri could do
• Positive Sentiment: Google announced a major 1.9GW clean-power backing for a new data center including a 100‑hour iron‑air battery — a long-duration storage deal that lowers carbon and energy risk for AI datacenter ops. Google’s new 1.9GW clean energy deal includes massive 100-hour battery
• Positive Sentiment: Loop Capital raised its GOOGL price target to $355, and Wells Fargo issued an upgrade — analyst support that can boost sentiment and flows into the stock. Loop Capital Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $355.00
• Positive Sentiment: Google says it disrupted a China‑linked hacking group that attacked dozens of organizations globally — a security win that reduces operational risk and demonstrates enterprise trustworthiness. Google disrupts Chinese-linked hackers that attacked 53 groups globally
• Neutral Sentiment: February short‑interest data in feeds appears erroneous (shows 0 shares / NaN changes); no clear short‑squeeze signal from that report. (data entry)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure in Europe: Reuters reports Google will test showing rivals’ vertical search results more prominently to try to avoid an EU fine — highlights ongoing antitrust risk that can cap multiples. Exclusive: Google to test changes to search results, source says as EU fine looms
• Negative Sentiment: Russia fined Google ~22 million roubles (~$288k) over VPN distribution — a small hit monetarily but another reminder of geopolitical/legal friction in certain markets. Russia fines Google for distributing VPN services, TASS reports
• Negative Sentiment: Reports of insider selling were flagged in headlines, which can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if the transactions are not material to long‑term fundamentals. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.1% After Insider Selling

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Susquehanna increased their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $325.00) 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 assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.57.

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.