Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.2% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 75,180 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,574 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 0.8% of B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,276,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after purchasing an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the second 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 period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 201.3% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,824,000 after purchasing an additional 4,374,542 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291. Corporate insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $324.32 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $321.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $272.22. The company has a market capitalization of $3.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. On average, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 20th. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.46.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Launched large U.S. investment?grade bond program (~$15B) including very long?dated tranches (reports of 50? and 100?year paper), giving Alphabet cheap, long?term funding to accelerate AI data?center buildout and signaling strong credit demand. Alphabet’s debt raise fuels forecasts for record year in corporate bond sales
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo (Alphabet unit) expanded operations, going fully autonomous in Nashville — a tangible commercialization milestone that supports the long?term growth story beyond advertising. Waymo goes fully autonomous in Nashville
• Positive Sentiment: Signed long?term renewables deals: TotalEnergies will supply ~1 GW of solar to Google’s Texas data centers, supporting sustainability goals and predictable power costs for AI compute workloads. TotalEnergies to provide solar power to Google’s Texas data centres
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains constructive — JPMorgan reaffirmed a buy rating and several outlets report raised price targets, which can bolster investor confidence after last week’s volatility. MarketScreener: JPMorgan maintains a buy rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector context — Big Tech had a sharp pullback last week (>$1T erased), leaving stocks treading water; Alphabet’s debt move and analyst notes are being read against that volatile backdrop. Big Tech stocks are treading water after $1 trillion sell-off week
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet added new AI?related risk language to its filings, flagging potential impacts on ad revenue and risks from large, long?duration commercial AI contracts — a reminder investors may face execution and revenue?mix risks as the company scales AI offerings. Alphabet calls out new AI-related risks, as it taps debt market to fund buildout
• Negative Sentiment: Autodesk sued Google alleging trademark infringement over AI video tools (the “Flow” name), adding legal uncertainty around some AI product branding and potential litigation costs. Google sued by Autodesk over AI-powered movie-making software
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale: reports show the CEO sold roughly $10.9M of stock, which can be interpreted by some investors as a mild negative signal even if occasional executive sales are routine. Insider Selling: Alphabet CEO Sells Stock

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.