Howard Capital Management Group LLC Sells 2,167 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Howard Capital Management Group LLC lowered its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 56,648 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,167 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.1% of Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Howard Capital Management Group LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $17,776,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. StoneCrest Wealth Management Inc. now owns 4,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,556,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd now owns 11,387 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,573,000 after acquiring an additional 378 shares during the last quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Aspire Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $505,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. M3 Advisory Group LLC now owns 3,778 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,186,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Udine Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% in the fourth quarter. Udine Wealth Management Inc. now owns 66,760 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,896,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOG. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and issued a $345.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $345.71.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Long-term TPU and networking deals deepen Alphabet’s hardware advantage and reduce AI cost exposure, supporting Google Cloud margins and enterprise wins. Broadcom and Google seal five-year AI chip partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo’s expansion to Nashville signals commercial progress for autonomous ride‑hailing, turning an “Other Bets” narrative into potential revenue growth. Alphabet Climbs 4% on Waymo’s Nashville Expansion: The Self-Driving Bet Is Starting to Pay Off
• Positive Sentiment: Google Finance’s AI overhaul and real‑time insights broaden product monetization and user engagement — a near‑term product catalyst that supports ad and subscription upside. Google Finance Gets AI Overhaul – Rolls Out Real-Time Insights To 100+ Countries
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud remains the fastest‑growing major cloud platform with a surging cloud backlog and AI-native offerings (Vertex/Gemini + TPUs), improving revenue visibility and margin trajectory. Google Cloud Is the World’s Fastest-Growing Major Cloud Platform
• Positive Sentiment: Wing and DoorDash drone expansion into Atlanta adds another commercialization channel for logistics and local revenue opportunities. Alphabet’s Wing Drone Unit, DoorDash Expand Into Atlanta. Google Stock Turns Green In 2026.
• Neutral Sentiment: Broad market tailwinds — including a temporary geopolitical ceasefire — lifted tech stocks broadly, amplifying Alphabet’s gains alongside stock‑specific news. Alphabet, Meta, Amazon, Nvidia lead tech rally after Trump announces ceasefire with Iran
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitors (Meta, Anthropic, OpenAI) continue product launches; heightened competition could pressure share if monetization or market share shifts. Meta debuts new AI model, attempting to catch Google, OpenAI after spending billions
• Negative Sentiment: Some institutional selling has occurred (TCW sold shares), and environmental/community pushback on large data‑center projects raises operational/permit risk for capacity expansion. TCW Relative Value Large Cap Fund Sold Alphabet Inc (GOOG) After Meeting Valuation Characteristics While Amazon, Microsoft, Google Struggle With AI On Land — China Looks To The Sea

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $314.74 on Thursday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $307.23 and a 200-day moving average of $298.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $145.81 and a 1 year high of $350.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.13.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during 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%.The firm’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.15 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,091.71. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,069,344 shares of company stock worth $104,708,426. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.