Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Montecito Bank & Trust

Montecito Bank & Trust lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 43,723 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 9,649 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.2% of Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,685,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares during the period. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after acquiring an additional 10,843,853 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $280.86 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $314.18 and a 200 day moving average price of $294.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI/product traction: Analysts note Alphabet’s AI-powered Search and Gemini engagement are picking up, supporting longer-term revenue upside from search and cloud monetization. Alphabet Relies on AI to Boost Search Growth: More Upside Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/upside support: MarketBeat and other brokers have been upgrading GOOGL and lifting price targets (consensus targets imply material upside), and Erste Group nudged FY26–27 EPS estimates higher — a tailwind for sentiment beyond short-term noise. Analyst Optimism: MarketBeat’s Most Upgraded Stocks of 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Product breakthrough vs. market noise: Google’s TurboQuant/compression research (claims of big memory reductions for LLMs) is a technical win for Google’s AI efficiency but has sparked volatility in semiconductor/memory names and some ETF flows — ambiguous near-term impact for GOOGL equity. A Google AI breakthrough is pressuring memory chip stocks from Samsung to Micron
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF and positioning flows: New ETFs and covered-call strategies (e.g., JUDO) are reallocating into/away from AI and semiconductor exposures; this can amplify short-term moves but doesn’t change Alphabet’s underlying fundamentals. Nvidia, Alphabet, Microsoft Power New JUDO ETF — Can Covered Calls Supercharge Returns?
• Negative Sentiment: Landmark legal risk: A Los Angeles jury found YouTube (Alphabet) liable in a youth social-media addiction case, awarding compensatory damages and opening the door to broader litigation and regulatory scrutiny — a clear catalyst for selling pressure on big-tech names. US jury verdicts against Meta, Google tee up fight over tech liability shield
• Negative Sentiment: Technical/flow-driven weakness: The stock has broken key support levels and entered a correction phase, which amplifies downward momentum as quant/technical selling and option activity kick in. Alphabet Has Fallen 16% From Its Highs: Panic or Opportunity?
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/management churn in key markets: Google’s top India counsel resigned amid regulatory pressure, underscoring execution and policy risks in a major growth market. Google top India counsel quits in latest departure amid regulatory hurdles, sources say
• Negative Sentiment: Cost pressure risk: Geopolitical-driven energy price spikes raise near-term concerns about higher operating costs for energy-intensive AI/data-center operations. Why Alphabet (GOOGL) Shares Are Falling Today

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus boosted their target price on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.18.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock valued at $118,134,117. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.