Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. Sells 4,651 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 391,613 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,651 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.7% of Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest position. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $95,202,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,640,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased 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 purchasing an additional 10,843,853 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after buying an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 201.3% during the 2nd quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,153,824,000 after buying an additional 4,374,542 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $308.70 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. 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 firm has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $319.56 and a 200 day simple moving average of $288.48.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $355.00 target price on the stock. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Arete Research increased their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google closed its $32 billion acquisition of Israeli cloud-security firm Wiz, folding Wiz into Google Cloud to bolster cloud and AI security capabilities — a major strategic bet that can expand enterprise revenue and product differentiation for Google Cloud. Google completes $32B acquisition of Wiz
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s GFiber unit is combining with Astound Broadband to form an independent fiber provider majority-owned by Stonepeak; Alphabet will be a minority owner — a deal that monetizes capital-intensive infrastructure, reduces execution risk and frees cash for core cloud/AI investments. Google sells partial stake in fiber business, becomes minority owner of new venture
• Positive Sentiment: Canal+ struck a multi-year deal to use Google Cloud’s generative AI for production and content recommendation — a concrete enterprise win that illustrates continued commercial traction for Google Cloud AI in media. Canal+ taps Google’s AI for video production, content recommendation
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and technical commentary are supporting the stock: coverage showing a bullish analyst consensus and MarketBeat noting a stabilizing pullback near $300 have likely encouraged buying from institutional and retail investors. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 2.6% Higher on Analyst Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s increased involvement with Pentagon AI (Agent Designer/GenAI.mil) signals potential contract opportunities but also political scrutiny; revenue upside exists but with reputational/regulatory considerations. Google Deploys AI Agents to Help Pentagon Automate Jobs
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports showing odd/unchanged short-interest figures (zeros or NaN in filings) are effectively non-informative and are unlikely to drive the move in GOOGL today.
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure from Microsoft’s expanding AI-cloud ecosystem (dual-model strategy, Anthropic/OpenAI ties) remains a medium-term risk to Google Cloud’s growth and margins. Microsoft Positioned to Win AI Race With Dual-Model Strategy (GOOGL)
• Negative Sentiment: Governance/compensation scrutiny after reporting of CEO Sundar Pichai’s large incentive package tied to long‑term “moonshot” bets could concern some investors worried about pay structure and execution risk. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai’s new $692 million compensation package…

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company 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.