Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Holdings Lifted by Wedmont Private Capital

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 28.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 176,999 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 39,693 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 1.4% of Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $61,040,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth about $29,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Timbuktu Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $46,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Tigress Financial raised their price objective on Alphabet from $415.00 to $485.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, September 18th. Arete Research lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $450.00 in a report on Monday, July 6th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $450.00 to $425.00 in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on Alphabet from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-five have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $421.95.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $347.86 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $236.68 and a 1 year high of $404.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.25 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $342.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $346.76.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $6.24. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.55 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google introduced a Gemini Agent designed to autonomously complete workplace tasks across Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Calendar, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Jira and other business systems. The product could strengthen Google Cloud and Workspace monetization by giving enterprise customers a reason to increase AI spending. Google brings agentic AI to Gemini, starting with businesses
• Positive Sentiment: Employees are reportedly testing an even more advanced Gemini 4 model, internally codenamed Carbon. While unconfirmed and not yet a commercial launch, the report reinforces expectations that Alphabet remains competitive in the rapidly evolving AI market. Google employees test new Gemini 4 model
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and financial commentators continue to view Alphabet as attractively valued relative to Microsoft, Amazon, Meta, Apple and Netflix. The company is growing rapidly while trading at a lower earnings multiple, supporting the argument that the stock has room to recover toward prior highs. Is Alphabet stock priced right against its peers?
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI infrastructure strategy is expanding through long-term power and data-center investments, including reported Nordic buildouts and nuclear and microgrid arrangements. Securing reliable electricity could help address a major constraint on future AI and cloud capacity.
• Neutral Sentiment: GOOG benefited from broader technology-sector strength, with gains in major holdings helping lift the SPY and QQQ exchange-traded funds. This provides market support but is not a company-specific catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: A reported increase in short interest showed zero shares outstanding and a zero-day days-to-cover ratio, an internally inconsistent data point that offers no reliable trading signal.
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms are promoting a securities class action alleging that Alphabet misled investors about Gemini development and AI issues during the May 19–July 16 class period. The lawsuits could create legal costs and reputational risk, although the announcements themselves do not establish liability. Rosen Alphabet securities class action announcement

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,076 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,494,424.20. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 441,399 shares of company stock worth $8,677,053 in the last ninety days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known as the parent company of Google. Established in 2015 through a corporate restructuring, Alphabet oversees Google and a collection of businesses focused on technology, innovation and emerging industries. Sundar Pichai serves as Alphabet’s chief executive officer and also leads Google.

Google is Alphabet’s primary business and operates an internet ecosystem that includes Google Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Photos.