Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s 8th Largest Position

Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ lifted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 31.1% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 1,879,336 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 445,398 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.8% of Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken AB publ’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $457,656,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter worth $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 100.0% in the second quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. LGT Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $37,000. Finally, Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $39,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and brokers have raised price targets and highlighted AI/cloud upside (UBS, Canaccord), citing Gemini adoption and generative‑AI capex that could add meaningful cloud revenue. UBS generative AI capex note
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet committed to a major $15B America‑India Connect initiative and announced partnerships (Zillow, Sea) that expand Gemini/Cloud into verticals — positive for long‑term cloud/ads monetization and market reach. America-India Connect announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Notable institutional buying from hedge funds (e.g., Appaloosa/Tepper, Altimeter, Viking) signals conviction in Alphabet’s AI/Cloud thesis and can support the stock through execution milestones. Appaloosa increases stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Product demos (Gemini AI coach, music features) and consumer launches (Pixel device with AI features) improve user engagement and positioning but are not immediate revenue drivers. Gemini demo on CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for February shows anomalies (zeros/NaN) and provides no clear bearish signal at present; treat the statistic cautiously until reconciled.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior execs disclosed sizable sales (Sundar Pichai, John Kent Walker), which markets often view as a modest near‑term negative signal despite normal tax/liquidity reasons. Pichai sale filing Walker sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/IP risk: prosecutors have charged engineers in an alleged scheme to steal Google trade secrets and pass files abroad — reputational and security concerns that could invite regulatory scrutiny. Trade-secrets indictment
• Negative Sentiment: Execution/supply risks: DeepMind’s CEO warned that memory‑chip shortages constrain agentic AI research/deployment, which could slow rollout timing or raise costs for compute‑intensive initiatives. DeepMind chip shortage comments
• Negative Sentiment: Several institutional investors disclosed trims (Pershing Square, Longview, others). Broad portfolio rebalancing can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if longer‑term AI momentum remains. Pershing Square trim

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price target (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,818,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $856,605,814.08. The trade was a 1.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock valued at $119,145,289. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $314.90 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $350.15. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 earned $2.15 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

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.