Sheets Smith Investment Management Purchases New Shares in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Sheets Smith Investment Management acquired a new stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 7,195 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,752,000.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFS Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% in the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley increased its position in Alphabet by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% in the second quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud scored a very large security‑services expansion with Palo Alto Networks that sources say is “approaching $10 billion,” a material commercial win that should lift cloud revenue and backlog expectations. Google Cloud lands deal with Palo Alto Networks
• Positive Sentiment: Brokerage momentum: Wedbush and other analysts have recently raised targets/ratings (new Wedbush $350 target) — analyst upgrades and higher price targets are supporting buyer interest. New Analyst Forecast: $GOOGL Given $350 Price Target
• Positive Sentiment: Talent win for AI: Coverage reports ~20% of Google’s 2025 AI software-engineer hires were “boomerang” ex‑employees — a sign management is successfully rehiring experienced AI staff amid intense competition, which supports execution on Gemini, cloud AI products and new hardware/software initiatives. Google’s boomerang year: 20% of AI software engineers hired in 2025 were ex-employees
• Neutral Sentiment: Social/market chatter highlights AI product strength (Gemini updates) and Waymo funding talk — these narratives can lift sentiment but carry execution and valuation risk if monetization timelines slip. Opinions on AI Innovations and Waymo Funding
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/trading signals: Power‑inflow/order‑flow alerts and recent intraday momentum have drawn short‑term traders into GOOG, amplifying moves on news. GOOG Hits Intraday High After Key Trading Signal
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal headwinds: Mexico’s antitrust authority ordered Google to drop certain Android restrictions, and a Spanish consumer group has opened preliminary legal action over alleged data collection — these actions raise compliance, litigation and product‑bundling risk in key markets. Mexico’s antitrust commission resolves Android competition case Spanish consumer group seeks to sue Google in data row
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Multiple filings show director/exec stock sales (including CEO sales disclosed) — routine for tax/planning but some investors view concentrated insider sales negatively in the short term. Alphabet insider buying and selling

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $308.61 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $289.83 and a two-hundred day moving average of $235.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $328.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, December 5th. Wolfe Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Bank of America upped their price target on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $313.04.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total value of $9,743,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,239,619 shares in the company, valued at $671,437,776.20. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.66, for a total transaction of $32,401.32. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,104 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,750,916.64. This represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 228,906 shares of company stock valued at $63,984,117. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.