Zuckerman Investment Group LLC Decreases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Zuckerman Investment Group LLC lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.6% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 163,454 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,027 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 3.7% of Zuckerman Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. Zuckerman Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $39,736,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,857,017,000 after buying an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its position in Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major competitor Meta has delayed a next‑generation AI release and reportedly discussed temporarily licensing Google’s Gemini model, which could help Alphabet expand usage/licensing of its AI stack and win incremental share. Meta delays release; may license Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Needham & Company reaffirmed a “buy” on GOOGL and set a $400 price target (~32% upside from current levels), which can support investor confidence and buying interest. Needham reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlight Meta falling behind on large AI models (and considering licensing Google tech), reinforcing the view that Google could capture market share in foundational models and services. Meta falling behind — Yahoo
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch GOOGL, supporting a constructive fundamental view after recent results. Zacks: earnings growth & price strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Google, Amazon and Meta pushing their own AI chips signals a structural shift in AI infrastructure — a long‑term positive if Google’s stack wins, but it intensifies competition with incumbents like NVIDIA and may pressure margins/capex. AI chips competition — Yahoo
• Neutral Sentiment: Google sold a partial stake in its GFiber unit and partnered to form a new independent fiber provider; this reduces direct capital burden but also trims ownership of the broadband growth asset. GFiber stake sale — CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/PR note: Google named its London HQ “Platform 37” referencing DeepMind/AlphaGo success — modestly positive for culture/AI branding but not material to near‑term financials. Platform 37 naming — Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulator and wider regulatory scrutiny on tech safety and child protection remain overhangs for Big Tech, including Alphabet, since new rules or enforcement could increase compliance costs or constrain certain services. UK regulator warning — Sky

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $302.28 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $319.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $289.23. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week 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 the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. President Capital upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,112,493 shares of company stock worth $118,605,094 in the last ninety days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Alphabet

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.