Fred Alger Management LLC Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Fred Alger Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 31.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 225,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,491 shares during the quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $54,762,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brooktree Capital Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 13.9% in the third quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,277,000 after buying an additional 7,180 shares during the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% in the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the second quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Centerpoint Advisory Group grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 21.0% during the second quarter. Centerpoint Advisory Group now owns 2,407 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after buying an additional 418 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $720,914,730.12. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,076,615 shares of company stock valued at $107,809,111. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday. China Renaissance lifted their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL opened at $302.28 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $319.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $290.39. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released 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 the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company 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 $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is currently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Summary

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

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.