Staley Capital Advisers Inc. Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Staley Capital Advisers Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 613,205 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 27,268 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 6.1% of Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Staley Capital Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $149,346,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Bright Futures Wealth Management LLC. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $1,992,000. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the third quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 43,791 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,665,000 after purchasing an additional 933 shares in the last quarter. Davis R M Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Davis R M Inc. now owns 147,148 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,838,000 after purchasing an additional 816 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 3.8% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 49,002 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,934,000 after purchasing an additional 1,803 shares during the period. Finally, London & Capital Asset Management Ltd raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.3% in the third quarter. London & Capital Asset Management Ltd now owns 387,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $94,330,000 after purchasing an additional 39,364 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $303.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.08, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $321.14 and its 200-day moving average price is $285.34. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. 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 business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.15 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at $3,337,229.80. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,078,926 shares of company stock valued at $108,426,720 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google launched a faster, lower-cost Gemini 3.1 Flash‑Lite model and continues heavy AI/cloud investment — a clear revenue and margin growth thesis for Search and Cloud as AI adoption ramps. Google Launches Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and modelers are lifting Alphabet’s fair value and price targets as AI and “heavy compute” capex are re‑priced into long‑term cash flow expectations — a bullish fundamental backdrop for multiples. How The Alphabet Investment Story Is Shifting
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying and notable stakes (including Berkshire’s disclosed position) reinforce demand and provide a floor to volatility; many firms still carry buy/outperform ratings. Berkshire Holds Alphabet Position
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s management outreach (recent Morgan Stanley conference presentation/transcript) provides incremental visibility on strategy and capex cadence but contained new guidance. Morgan Stanley Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reports in the feed are inconsistent/low‑quality (zeros/NaN), so they’re not a reliable short‑term driver; ignore noisy short‑data anomalies until clearer reports arrive.
• Negative Sentiment: Escalating Middle East conflict has prompted temporary office closures and operational disruptions for tech firms, fueling broad market risk-off flows that pressure large cap tech stocks, including Alphabet. Offices Closed Amid U.S.-Iran War
• Negative Sentiment: Worker pushback and public scrutiny over military AI contracts could create reputational and contract‑execution uncertainty as Google negotiates Pentagon ties for Gemini — potential governance/PR headwinds. Employees Call for Military Limits
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure: OpenAI released a new GPT‑5.3 Instant model on the same day as Google’s Gemini update, increasing the pace of model competition and the need for continued R&D spending. OpenAI Launches GPT-5.3 Instant
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo (Alphabet’s AV unit) is under NTSB investigation for incidents involving stopped school buses, creating regulatory and liability risk that can weigh on investor sentiment for the broader parent. NTSB Investigates Waymo Incidents

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.