Gradient Investments LLC Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Gradient Investments LLC reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 18.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 398,030 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 91,806 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.0% of Gradient Investments LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Gradient Investments LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $124,902,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,298,572,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Alphabet by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,240,469,000 after buying an additional 7,904,434 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 73.5% during 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 during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in 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 buying an additional 4,099,366 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in 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 valued at $707,691,000 after buying an additional 3,062,590 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total transaction of $10,439,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,244,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,914,730.12. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock worth $118,134,117. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 13th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $348.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $345.71.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind expands robotics AI work—Alphabet’s DeepMind will integrate Gemini Robotics foundation models with Agile Robots’ hardware, advancing robotics capabilities and supporting long‑term AI monetization and product leadership. Google partners with Agile Robots, growing its AI robotics footprint
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini commerce rollout—Gap will enable checkout inside Google’s Gemini, a sign that Alphabet is starting to capture direct commerce revenue and broaden Gemini’s commercial use cases. That supports the AI monetization narrative. Gap becomes the first major fashion company to offer checkout within Google’s Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism remains—Wall Street price targets and buy ratings stay elevated (median targets well above the current price), which provides upside support over a multi‑month horizon. Alphabet Stock (GOOG) Opinions on Earnings Release
• Neutral Sentiment: Google Cloud business wins and partnerships—BMO/CME plan tokenized cash on Google Cloud and other enterprise collaborations continue to validate cloud demand, but revenue timing and margins will matter. BMO to launch tokenized cash platform with CME and Google Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: New operational initiatives—Wing’s planned drone deliveries in the SF Bay Area and other hardware efforts show progress but will require continued capital and regulatory approvals. Alphabet’s Wing to start drone delivery in San Francisco Bay Area
• Neutral Sentiment: Operational constraints flagged—Alphabet executives warned the U.S. may need more power development to scale AI data centers, highlighting capex and infrastructure dependency. CERAWEEK US needs more energy development to power AI, Google president says
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reporting appears noisy—several data sources show large short‑interest changes but the published figures (0 shares) are likely reporting errors; treat short‑interest signals with caution.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory scrutiny—EU antitrust officials are meeting with Alphabet’s CEO amid growing scrutiny of Big Tech’s AI power, a near‑term headwind that can increase uncertainty and re‑rate multiples. EU antitrust chief meets Google, Meta, OpenAI, Amazon CEOs amidst AI scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Technical weakness—traders are pointing to a head‑and‑shoulders breakdown and failing support levels, which can amplify selling in the short term as algorithmic and momentum funds react. Alphabet Stock (GOOGL) Opinions on Technical Breakdown and AI Developments
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling—public data shows significant insider sales by executives over recent months, which can be interpreted negatively by some investors even if sales are for diversification or compensation reasons. Alphabet Stock (GOOG) Opinions on Earnings Release

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $289.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.75, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $316.04 and its 200 day moving average price is $294.86.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

About Alphabet

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.