Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stake Lessened by Primecap Management Co. CA

Primecap Management Co. CA lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 27.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,126,946 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,349,411 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.1% of Primecap Management Co. CA’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest position. Primecap Management Co. CA owned about 0.05% of Alphabet worth $1,492,218,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $4,298,572,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Alphabet by 8.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after purchasing an additional 7,904,434 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Alphabet by 73.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,388,775,000 after buying an additional 4,154,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 17,547.9% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $731,331,000 after buying an additional 4,099,366 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Loop Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded AI image generator with faster performance and better text handling — reinforces product leadership for Gemini/search integrations and helps drive user engagement across Google services. Google launches Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly struck a multibillion-dollar deal to rent its AI chips (TPUs) to Meta — a direct revenue and margin-positive outcome from Alphabet’s AI infrastructure investments. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is securing power supply agreements for data centers (deals with AES and Xcel), which reduces execution risk for its AI/cloud buildout and supports continued capacity expansion. Alphabet Secures Power Deals
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data, opening commercial opportunities for Google Maps and Waymo in a market previously restricted — potential revenue and product expansion tailwind. South Korea approves Google bid
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy investors continue to add to Alphabet: notable buying by billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was reported — an endorsement that can support sentiment among long-term institutional investors. Druckenmiller buys Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage and buy ratings remain favorable (recent upgrades and positive notes on cloud/AI), supporting longer-term upside expectations even after concerns about spending. MarketBeat coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest updates in available feeds show anomalous/zero reporting and NaN changes — appears to be noisy data and unlikely to be driving today’s move. (Data entries flagged as 0/NaN.)
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition authorities opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — a regulatory risk that could pressure ad margins or lead to fines/operational changes in Europe. Belgian watchdog probe
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure intensified after OpenAI raised massive funding with Amazon/Nvidia/Microsoft as backers — concentrates AI competition and could blunt parts of Google’s enterprise opportunity or pricing power. OpenAI record funding report
• Negative Sentiment: Investor cautions: critics (Michael Burry, some options trade services) have flagged Alphabet’s aggressive AI capex and warned of margin pressure — a reminder of downside risk if spending outpaces near-term monetization. Michael Burry on Google’s AI spending

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,211,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,945,705.60. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $311.43 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $321.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $282.81. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.81, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid 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 presently 7.77%.

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.