Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stock Position Increased by Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 13.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 157,393 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 18,881 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.0% of Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $38,333,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV raised its position in Alphabet by 41.5% in the third quarter. Azzad Asset Management Inc. ADV now owns 4,929 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,201,000 after purchasing an additional 1,445 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 251.4% during the 3rd quarter. First Dallas Securities Inc. now owns 5,605 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,365,000 after purchasing an additional 4,010 shares during the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 59,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,643,000 after purchasing an additional 17,805 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.3% in the 3rd quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 29,690 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,231,000 after buying an additional 4,371 shares during the period. Finally, a16z Perennial Management L.P. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $6,778,000. 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: Strong AI & Cloud momentum — Google’s Gemini and cloud businesses continue to show rapid user and revenue growth, supporting the company’s long‑term monetization outlook and attracting bullish analyst coverage (Scotiabank recently raised its target). Scotiabank Maintains Outperform on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: New AI shopping monetization tests — Google is rolling shopping features into Search and Gemini, a direct path to monetize AI interactions (ads in AI responses). This supports medium‑term revenue upside as AI becomes an ad/shopping channel. Google Weaves New Shopping Feature Into Search and Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo deployment progress — Waymo’s rollout of next‑gen Ojai robotaxis improves execution visibility for Alphabet’s autonomy unit and shows continued non‑ad growth investments. Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Century bond demand — Alphabet’s rare 100‑year bond and a large multi‑currency debt package were heavily subscribed, showing investor appetite for long‑dated paper but raising questions about signal vs. financing choice. Coverage is mixed on whether this is a positive demand signal or a red flag about heavy AI funding. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional flows mixed — some funds (Egerton, Fisher) added positions while others trimmed. Large 13F moves and continued analyst buy ratings keep a structural buyer base but create near‑term rotation noise. Egerton opens new $338.5M GOOG position
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probes into search ad auction practices — Reuters/Bloomberg report fresh EU investigations into Google’s ad auction/pricing practices in Europe, a direct regulatory risk to the core ad business and a catalyst for negative investor reaction. Google targeted by EU over search ad auction practices
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and financing fears — heavy FY2026 capex guidance ($175–185B), a $31.5B bond program and the century bond have spooked some investors concerned about free‑cash‑flow pressure and dilution risk, which contributed to recent share weakness after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Some big holders trimming — the Swiss National Bank and several funds have cut GOOGL exposure in recent filings, which can amplify downward pressure in the near term. Swiss National Bank reduces GOOGL holdings

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Barclays raised their price target on Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.90.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $34,680.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,224,380. This trade represents a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,069,864 shares of company stock valued at $105,985,041. 12.99% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $309.37 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $350.15. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $322.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.25. 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 cap of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. 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 business posted $2.15 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio 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.