Legacy Private Trust Co. Sells 3,617 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Legacy Private Trust Co. trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 120,813 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,617 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.2% of Legacy Private Trust Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Legacy Private Trust Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $37,814,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC now owns 44,386 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,893,000 after acquiring an additional 3,085 shares during the period. Websterrogers Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $232,000. Genesis Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 29.3% in the fourth quarter. Genesis Private Wealth LLC now owns 6,298 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,971,000 after acquiring an additional 1,427 shares during the period. Sard Wealth Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 18.6% during the 4th quarter. Sard Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 2,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $683,000 after purchasing an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 106,063 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $34,150,000 after purchasing an additional 4,848 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. New Street Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Pivotal Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Loop Capital boosted their price target on Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Three research 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, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.18.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $290.93 on Thursday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $3.52 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $315.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $294.43. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support: Alphabet is among stocks that have received multiple analyst upgrades and raised price targets after strong AI and cloud results, underpinning longer‑term upside expectations. Zacks: Alphabet is a strong growth stock
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini monetization / retail tie‑ups: Gap will enable checkout inside Google’s Gemini, a step toward direct commerce monetization for the AI platform. This could help diversify revenue beyond search advertising. CNBC: Gap becomes first to offer checkout within Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Cloud & partnerships: New deals — Openreach using Google AI to speed fibre rollout and BMO/CME launching a tokenized cash platform on Google Cloud — highlight enterprise demand for Google Cloud services and potential revenue tailwinds. Reuters: Openreach taps Google AI Reuters: BMO to launch tokenized cash platform with CME and Google Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Robotics / AI roadmap: DeepMind/Google partnership activity (e.g., Agile Robots) signals long‑term AI/robotics ambitions but is capital‑intensive and will take time to monetize. CNBC: Google partners with Agile Robots
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory/market structure watch: EU antitrust meetings with Big Tech and Google’s initiative in India to label verified investment apps are regulatory items to monitor — could mean more oversight but also proactive controls limiting consumer harm. Reuters: EU antitrust chief meets tech CEOs Reuters: Google to label verified investment apps in India
• Negative Sentiment: Landmark LA verdict — legal overhang: A Los Angeles jury found Google’s YouTube (and Meta’s Instagram) negligent in a youth social‑media addiction case, awarding compensatory damages and moving to a punitive phase. The decision creates precedent risk, could spur additional suits, and has been cited as a near‑term driver of selling pressure. Reuters: Jury reaches verdict in Meta, Google trial BusinessWire: $3M compensatory verdict
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/earnings risk: Investors remain concerned about Alphabet’s very large 2026 capex guidance, rising energy costs for AI/data centers, and a recent pullback in the stock — factors that could compress near‑term returns despite long‑term growth potential. Barron’s: Google stock slides toward bear market territory

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,091.71. The trade was a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock worth $118,134,117 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.