Sound Shore Management Inc CT Sells 110,460 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sound Shore Management Inc CT cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 25.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 324,214 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 110,460 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.6% of Sound Shore Management Inc CT’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Sound Shore Management Inc CT’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $78,816,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Delta Asset Management LLC TN boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 6,153 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,496,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares in the last quarter. Matisse Capital boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 14,814 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,601,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Breakwater Investment Management grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Breakwater Investment Management now owns 4,228 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,028,000 after acquiring an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the third quarter. Wealth Alliance Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,045 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $983,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearview Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the third quarter. Clearview Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,281 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $312,000 after purchasing an additional 41 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $307.38 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $320.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $281.45. 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 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 7.77%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google struck a multibillion-dollar deal to rent its Tensor Processing Units to Meta, validating TPU demand and directly boosting Google Cloud/infra revenue potential. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage highlights accelerating Google Cloud growth, heavy AI-driven demand and a large backlog (~$240B cited), supporting faster revenue expansion and margin leverage from cloud services. AI Push Provides a Boost to GOOGL’s Cloud Business
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched Nano Banana 2, an upgraded AI image generator with faster speeds and better text rendering — another visible product that drives user engagement and showcases Gemini-era AI improvements. Google launches Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Longer-term optionality from stakes and partnerships: coverage points to Alphabet’s meaningful Anthropic stake (equity upside + Google Cloud infra revenue) and other private holdings that could materially boost valuation if monetized. Alphabet’s Quiet Edge: The Hidden Assets Powering Its Run
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo is expanding testing to Chicago and Charlotte as it scales autonomous ride‑hailing — a revenue diversification story that supports the long-term “Other Bets” growth narrative. Waymo to begin testing in Chicago and Charlotte
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet folded robotics software unit Intrinsic into Google — operational consolidation that may speed commercialization but has limited near-term revenue impact. Former Alphabet ‘moonshot’ robotics company Intrinsic is folding into Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Google reported disruption of a China-linked hacker network — positive for security posture and enterprise trust but unlikely to move near-term fundamentals. Google disrupts Chinese-linked hackers
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulatory pressure: Google is testing a new search layout to show rivals’ vertical results more prominently in Europe to try to avoid a fine — a change that could reduce some direct monetization in affected result types if broadly adopted. Google to test changes to search results as EU fine looms
• Negative Sentiment: Minor regional/legal friction: a small Russian fine was reported for distributing VPN apps — reputational/regulatory noise but immaterial to global results. Russia fines Google for distributing VPN services
• Negative Sentiment: Market signals: there were reports of insider selling and mixed analyst flows (price-target moves), which can prompt short-term profit-taking after a long GOOGL run. Alphabet Shares Down After Insider Selling

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Susquehanna upped their price objective on Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson lifted their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.57.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock valued at $119,145,289. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.