Stephens Inc. AR Grows Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 328,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,319 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.0% of Stephens Inc. AR’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $79,886,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Optima Capital LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Optima Capital LLC now owns 7,612 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,851,000 after buying an additional 208 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18.9% in the third quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC now owns 26,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,552,000 after acquiring an additional 4,279 shares during the last quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the third quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 19,874 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,831,000 after acquiring an additional 210 shares during the last quarter. Bestgate Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.4% during the third quarter. Bestgate Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,216 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $782,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cooper Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Cooper Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $625,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. New Street Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 24th. CICC Research upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities boosted their target price on Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $332.60.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple analyst actions and raised targets have lifted sentiment — RBC reaffirmed its “buy” rating, Needham kept a buy with a $330 target, Raymond James upgraded the stock, and at least one shop lifted its price target to $390, supporting higher valuations. MarketScreener: RBC remains its buy rating Alphabet Price Target Raised to $390
• Positive Sentiment: High-profile portfolio activity (the “Pelosi” filing) signaled continued conviction in large-cap tech/AI exposure via option-based leverage — a bullish sign that large investors are maintaining exposure to Alphabet while optimizing capital. Pelosi’s Bullish 2026 Buy List: AI, Power & Dividends
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s VC arm participated in a $200M funding round for AI video startup Synthesia, reinforcing the company’s continued strategic bets in the AI ecosystem and potential downstream product/partnership benefits for Google Cloud and AI services. Nvidia and Alphabet VC arms back Synthesia
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing Magnificent Seven coverage and bullish AI narratives continue to underpin market interest in large-cap AI leaders like Alphabet, but these are thematic tailwinds rather than company-specific catalysts. Seeking Alpha: Alphabet’s Big Rally
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro and calendar risks (Fed decision, major tech earnings this week) are creating market-wide volatility that could affect GOOGL’s near-term moves independent of fundamentals. Nasdaq futures in the red ahead of big week
• Negative Sentiment: Google agreed to a preliminary $68M settlement in a class-action suit alleging its Assistant improperly recorded users — a modest but negative headline that adds legal/PR noise ahead of earnings (judge approval required). Google Agrees to Settle Class Action Lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai sold roughly $10–11M of Alphabet shares recently (reported ahead of the Feb. 4 earnings date). Insider sales can be interpreted as routine diversification but may create short-term concern among some investors. Sundar Pichai Offloads Alphabet Shares

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’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 value of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,337,119 shares in the company, valued at $662,526,494.12. This trade represents a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 222,409 shares of company stock valued at $68,564,532 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $333.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $316.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $261.78. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $340.49.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for 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%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

About Alphabet

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.