Blue Grotto Capital LLC Acquires Shares of 47,775 Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Blue Grotto Capital LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 47,775 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $11,636,000. Alphabet comprises about 1.3% of Blue Grotto Capital LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 24th largest position.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the second quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,697,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.4% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 594,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $105,540,000 after purchasing an additional 41,132 shares during the period. Boston Partners lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 239.7% during the 2nd quarter. Boston Partners now owns 63,128 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,198,000 after buying an additional 44,546 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 172,755 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,645,000 after buying an additional 944 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,914,730.12. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet closed its largest‑ever acquisition, buying cybersecurity firm Wiz for $32 billion — a move that strengthens Google Cloud’s security offering and could help accelerate enterprise cloud adoption. Google completes $32B acquisition of Wiz
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to monetize AI across products: Gemini is being added to Google Maps (“Ask Maps”) and Workspace (Docs/Sheets/Slides/Drive), which can drive engagement and incremental ad/cloud revenue over time. Google Adds Gemini AI to Google Maps
• Positive Sentiment: Google cut Android developer fees and expanded billing options, resolving a long dispute with Epic and enabling Fortnite’s return to the Play Store — a signal that policy changes may improve Play Store monetization and developer relations. Google App Store Brings Back Fortnite, Changes Fee Structure
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is combining its GFiber unit with Astound Broadband, retaining a minority stake while Stonepeak becomes majority owner — this monetizes a capital‑intensive asset but limits future control/returns. Google sells partial stake in fiber business
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and institutional backdrop remains supportive: multiple upgrades, a large buy consensus and continued inflows help underpin the longer‑term case even as the stock retraces; MarketBeat/analysis note $300 area as key technical support. Alphabet pullback and analyst coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reports in recent feeds show zero or inconsistent figures (likely data anomalies), so don’t read too much into the reported “spike” — short interest appears not to be a driver today.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and legal risks: UK regulator pressure to protect children online and ongoing AI‑related legal/competitive noise (lawsuits mentioned around Gemini) add headline risk that can pressure multiples for large tech names. Big tech warned to protect children online
• Negative Sentiment: Sizeable cash outlay for Wiz and heightened competition from other AI/cloud players mean investors may be cautious about near‑term free‑cash flow and integration risk despite strategic rationale. Google completes $32B purchase of Wiz

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $303.21 on Friday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $319.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $289.11. The company has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.15 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price objective (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Loop Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.90.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.