Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by LS Investment Advisors LLC

LS Investment Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 63,793 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,513 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.2% of LS Investment Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest position. LS Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $15,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Finally, S&T Bank PA raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 99 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. New Street Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $390.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Moffett Nathanson increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. BNP Paribas Exane assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 1st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $326.31.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major strategic wins for Gemini — Apple has chosen Google’s Gemini as the foundation for next‑generation Siri and broader device integrations, giving Alphabet unmatched distribution and a potential licensing revenue stream that underpins the recent rally. Why Apple Chose Google to Power the Future of AI
• Positive Sentiment: Product commercialization accelerating — Google launched a Personal Intelligence beta in the Gemini app (and is rolling Gemini features into Gmail), signaling faster product rollouts and clearer paths to monetize AI across Google’s services. Google launches Personal Intelligence in Gemini app
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and valuation milestone — Alphabet surpassed a $4 trillion market cap and received buy‑side bullishness (including a Bank of America price target raise), which supports further multiple expansion and momentum chasing. Alphabet Tops $4 Trillion Valuation
• Neutral Sentiment: Supply chain / hardware moves — Reports Google will develop and manufacture high‑end phones in Vietnam this year; long term this can diversify supply chains but it’s early and capex/timing make the near‑term impact modest. Google to develop, manufacture smartphones in Vietnam
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector dynamics — Articles on data‑infrastructure winners (e.g., Pure Storage) and Microsoft’s retail AI moves highlight rising demand for data centers and competition across the AI stack; these trends are broadly supportive for Alphabet’s cloud/AI TAM but also signal intensifying competition and higher capital intensity. Best Growth Stocks to Buy in 2026
• Negative Sentiment: Power and grid bottlenecks — Google executives say U.S. electrical transmission constraints and decade‑plus wait times to connect new data centers are the biggest obstacle to scaling, which could slow capacity expansion and raise deployment/capex risk. Google says US transmission system is biggest challenge
• Negative Sentiment: App‑store / reputational pressure — A coalition is urging Google to remove X and Grok from app stores, creating potential regulatory/PR friction around content moderation and platform responsibilities that could lead to policy scrutiny or compliance costs. Women’s groups call on Apple, Google to drop X and Grok

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0%

GOOGL opened at $335.84 on Thursday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $309.35 and its 200-day moving average is $252.67. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $340.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total value of $31,971.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,706,357.25. This represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 189,309 shares of company stock valued at $57,724,770. Company 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.