Ithaka Group LLC Boosts Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Ithaka Group LLC raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3,495.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 45,956 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 44,678 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.9% of Ithaka Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Ithaka Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,193,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Tradewinds LLC. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2,134.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 45,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,984,000 after purchasing an additional 43,080 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its holdings in Alphabet by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 354,529 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $86,345,000 after buying an additional 84,553 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 2.2% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 157,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,272,000 after buying an additional 3,444 shares in the last quarter. American National Bank of Texas acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $900,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,164,341 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $206,542,000 after acquiring an additional 42,028 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,112,380 shares of company stock worth $119,112,888 over the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded AI image generator with faster performance and better text handling — reinforces product leadership for Gemini/search integrations and helps drive user engagement across Google services. Google launches Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly struck a multibillion-dollar deal to rent its AI chips (TPUs) to Meta — a direct revenue and margin-positive outcome from Alphabet’s AI infrastructure investments. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is securing power supply agreements for data centers (deals with AES and Xcel), which reduces execution risk for its AI/cloud buildout and supports continued capacity expansion. Alphabet Secures Power Deals
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data, opening commercial opportunities for Google Maps and Waymo in a market previously restricted — potential revenue and product expansion tailwind. South Korea approves Google bid
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy investors continue to add to Alphabet: notable buying by billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was reported — an endorsement that can support sentiment among long-term institutional investors. Druckenmiller buys Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage and buy ratings remain favorable (recent upgrades and positive notes on cloud/AI), supporting longer-term upside expectations even after concerns about spending. MarketBeat coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest updates in available feeds show anomalous/zero reporting and NaN changes — appears to be noisy data and unlikely to be driving today’s move. (Data entries flagged as 0/NaN.)
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition authorities opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — a regulatory risk that could pressure ad margins or lead to fines/operational changes in Europe. Belgian watchdog probe
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure intensified after OpenAI raised massive funding with Amazon/Nvidia/Microsoft as backers — concentrates AI competition and could blunt parts of Google’s enterprise opportunity or pricing power. OpenAI record funding report
• Negative Sentiment: Investor cautions: critics (Michael Burry, some options trade services) have flagged Alphabet’s aggressive AI capex and warned of margin pressure — a reminder of downside risk if spending outpaces near-term monetization. Michael Burry on Google’s AI spending

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $348.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $343.90.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $311.43 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $350.15. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $321.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $283.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 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:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.15 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.