Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s 5th Largest Position

Capital Investment Counsel Inc reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 110,812 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,786 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.3% of Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest position. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,988,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $4,298,572,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 73.5% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,388,775,000 after acquiring an additional 4,154,929 shares in the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,547.9% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $731,331,000 after acquiring an additional 4,099,366 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 330.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,989,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $707,691,000 after acquiring an additional 3,062,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google’s new Project Genie AI model — which can turn short prompts into fully rendered, playable 3D worlds and characters — is being viewed as a strategic win for Alphabet’s AI leadership and platform reach; the announcement spooked game developers but signals a new product avenue for Google that could expand ads, cloud consumption and developer tools. Videogame stocks slide on Google’s AI model that turns prompts into playable worlds
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst note expects Alphabet to beat Q4 revenue and EPS as AI lifts ads and cloud demand — a direct fundamental rationale for upside to near-term earnings and investor estimates. Alphabet Could Power Past Forecasts As AI Lifts Ads, Cloud: Analyst
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buying: Vanguard reportedly added material GOOGL exposure in its latest filing, which supports demand for the shares from big passive/active holders. Fund Update: VANGUARD GROUP INC Just Disclosed New Holdings
• Positive Sentiment: Google disrupted a major residential proxy network used by bad actors, a security move that reduces abuse risk across its ecosystem and is a modest reputational/operational positive. Google disrupts large residential proxy network, reducing devices used by operators by ‘millions’
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street is focused on Q4 guidance and key metric estimates ahead of earnings; expectations and guidance will likely drive short-term moves more than some headlines. Ahead of Alphabet (GOOGL) Q4 Earnings: Get Ready With Wall Street Estimates for Key Metrics
• Neutral Sentiment: Profile/endorsement notes: coverage pieces and fund letters (e.g., Giverny Capital mention, Tim Cook comments on partnership) keep sentiment visible but are unlikely to move the tape materially on their own. Alphabet (GOOG) Contributed 4.7% to Giverny Capital Asset Management’s 2025 Growth
• Negative Sentiment: A former Google engineer was convicted of stealing AI trade secrets and uploading internal materials to personal cloud accounts — a legal/security headwind that raises concerns about IP protection and could prompt tighter controls and scrutiny. Former Google engineer found guilty of espionage and theft of AI tech
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo involvement in a pedestrian incident has triggered an NHTSA probe; regulatory/safety risks around Waymo’s rollout remain a potential liability and source of short-term volatility for Alphabet. A Waymo hit a child near an elementary school. The NHTSA is investigating

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $338.53 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $320.91 and a 200-day moving average price of $266.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $342.29.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% 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 business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total transaction of $9,743,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,239,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $671,437,776.20. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,070,485 shares of company stock valued at $104,428,169 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $315.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $330.83.

Alphabet Company 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.