BNP Paribas Cuts Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

BNP Paribas lessened its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 284,825 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,554 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.0% of BNP Paribas’ holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. BNP Paribas’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $67,603,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at $31,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Argus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upped their price objective on Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at $508,028,012.80. The trade was a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,580,469.82. This represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $302.28 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $319.12 and a 200 day moving average of $289.81. 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 has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major competitor Meta has delayed a next‑generation AI release and reportedly discussed temporarily licensing Google’s Gemini model, which could help Alphabet expand usage/licensing of its AI stack and win incremental share. Meta delays release; may license Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Needham & Company reaffirmed a “buy” on GOOGL and set a $400 price target (~32% upside from current levels), which can support investor confidence and buying interest. Needham reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlight Meta falling behind on large AI models (and considering licensing Google tech), reinforcing the view that Google could capture market share in foundational models and services. Meta falling behind — Yahoo
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch GOOGL, supporting a constructive fundamental view after recent results. Zacks: earnings growth & price strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Google, Amazon and Meta pushing their own AI chips signals a structural shift in AI infrastructure — a long‑term positive if Google’s stack wins, but it intensifies competition with incumbents like NVIDIA and may pressure margins/capex. AI chips competition — Yahoo
• Neutral Sentiment: Google sold a partial stake in its GFiber unit and partnered to form a new independent fiber provider; this reduces direct capital burden but also trims ownership of the broadband growth asset. GFiber stake sale — CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/PR note: Google named its London HQ “Platform 37” referencing DeepMind/AlphaGo success — modestly positive for culture/AI branding but not material to near‑term financials. Platform 37 naming — Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulator and wider regulatory scrutiny on tech safety and child protection remain overhangs for Big Tech, including Alphabet, since new rules or enforcement could increase compliance costs or constrain certain services. UK regulator warning — Sky

Alphabet Company 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.