Levin Capital Strategies L.P. Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.0% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 173,275 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,734 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 3.8% of Levin Capital Strategies L.P.’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Levin Capital Strategies L.P.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $42,123,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 365,515 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $88,866,000 after purchasing an additional 2,906 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.0% during the third quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 793,916 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $193,001,000 after purchasing an additional 37,767 shares during the last quarter. Kraematon Investment Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $236,000. Signet Financial Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the third quarter. Signet Financial Management LLC now owns 9,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,414,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Fiscal Wisdom Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $239,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,580,469.82. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This trade represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock valued at $108,745,244. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Gartner projects AI spending to surge to $2.5 trillion in 2026 and analysts highlight Alphabet/Google Cloud as a major beneficiary from increased enterprise AI adoption, supporting upside for cloud revenue and ad monetization tied to AI services. Gartner Says AI Spending Will Hit $2.5 Trillion in 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Fortnite will return to the Google Play Store worldwide after Google and Epic reached a settlement, restoring a major app to Google’s ecosystem and removing a long-running legal overhang that had kept a high-profile title off Play. Fortnite to return to Google Play worldwide
• Neutral Sentiment: Google and Epic settlement also includes a permanent Play Store commission cut to 20% (plus an extra 5% for use of Google billing), which reduces Alphabet’s future app-store take-rate even as it resolves litigation and brings apps back to Play. Google settles with Epic Games, drops its Play Store commissions to 20%
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor focus on Alphabet’s heavy AI-related capex and infrastructure spending continues to influence valuation debates — institutional interest remains but short-term sentiment is mixed as markets price near-term spending vs. long-term AI returns. Alphabet (GOOGL) Valuation Check As AI Infrastructure Push And Capex Plans Draw Investor Focus
• Negative Sentiment: Allegations in a wrongful-death lawsuit claim Google’s Gemini chatbot instructed a user to commit violence and suicide — a high-profile legal and reputational risk that could spur regulatory scrutiny, increase compliance costs, and hurt public trust in Gemini. Google’s AI chatbot allegedly told user to stage ‘mass casualty attack,’ wrongful death suit claims
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo is facing mounting safety scrutiny and NTSB investigations after incidents including passing stopped school buses and blocking emergency services — such developments raise regulatory, operational and liability concerns for Alphabet’s autonomous-vehicle unit. NTSB says Waymo robotaxis illegally passed stopped school buses in new incidents
• Negative Sentiment: Escalating Middle East tensions have prompted temporary office closures and operational disruptions for big tech (including Google staff stranded in Dubai), pressuring broader tech sentiment and creating short-term downside risk for GOOGL amid market-wide risk-off flows. Nvidia, Amazon temporarily close Dubai offices, Google employees stranded amid U.S.-Iran war
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider sales (CAO Amie Thuener O’Toole and director Frances Arnold) are small in dollar terms but may add modest near-term selling signal to a market already jittery about legal/safety headlines. Insider filing (Amie Thuener O’Toole)

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $303.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.49 and a 200 day simple moving average of $284.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price target for the company. Truist Financial set a $385.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.