Troy Asset Management Ltd Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Troy Asset Management Ltd lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,516,344 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 574,388 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 15.5% of Troy Asset Management Ltd’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 2nd biggest position. Troy Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $611,723,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Moment Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Brooktree Capital Management acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 13.9% during the third quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $14,277,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares during the period. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 23.6% during the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: MarketBeat highlights Alphabet’s “quiet edge” — big hidden assets (14% stake in Anthropic, an early SpaceX stake and massive device distribution) that amplify AI and cloud upside beyond Search and YouTube. Alphabet’s Quiet Edge: The Hidden Assets Powering Its Run
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data — clears a major market access barrier for Google Maps and mapping-related revenue/opportunity in Korea. South Korea approves Google bid to export high-precision map data
• Positive Sentiment: Reports say Meta will rent Google’s TPU AI chips for model training — validation of Google’s AI infrastructure business and a potential multi‑billion revenue stream for cloud/TPU services. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta, Information reports
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet folded robotics unit Intrinsic into Google and signals Gemini may power next‑gen robots — deepens AI product integration and expands commercial AI addressable market. Alphabet’s robotics platform Intrinsic joins Google to support AI models
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched Nano Banana 2 (image‑generation model) with faster, better outputs — product improvements that help retain user engagement across AI services. Google rolls out Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller increased his Alphabet stake again — a notable institutional vote of confidence often read positively by the market. Druckenmiller Piled Into Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and other analyst pieces reiterate Alphabet’s AI‑fueled edge in Search and Cloud vs. Meta, reinforcing the consensus growth story but not changing near‑term guidance. Meta Platforms vs. Alphabet: Which Digital Ad Behemoth Has an Edge?
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo’s planned expansion toward Chicago signals long‑term commercialization progress but remains a multi‑year revenue story rather than an immediate profit driver. Waymo to bring driverless cars to Chicago
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition watchdog opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — regulatory and legal risk that could pressure ad revenue or require business changes. Belgian watchdog opens probe into Google’s online ad price practices
• Negative Sentiment: Internal tensions: 100+ Google AI employees urged limits on some military uses of Gemini, highlighting governance/ethical frictions that could complicate product deployment and public perception. Google Workers Seek ‘Red Lines’ on Military A.I.
• Negative Sentiment: Schaeffer’s options commentary warns bulls to watch for faltering action and offers a trade for subscribers — a signal some traders are positioning for short‑term downside or increased volatility. Bulls Should Keep Watch on Faltering Alphabet Stock

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares in the company, valued at $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Pivotal Research raised their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Roth Mkm upped their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $385.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.57.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $311.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $320.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $282.77. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $349.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during 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%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

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.