Security National Bank Raises Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Security National Bank grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.1% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 45,842 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,232 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 1.7% of Security National Bank’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding. Security National Bank’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,144,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Truist Financial Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. Truist Financial Corp now owns 2,546,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $448,684,000 after acquiring an additional 56,295 shares during the period. Moment Partners LLC grew its stake 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 valued at $1,039,000 after purchasing an additional 504 shares during the period. Welch Group LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares during the last quarter. Brooktree Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $352,000. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 13.9% in the 3rd 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. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total transaction of $31,971.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,706,357.25. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $66,695,036. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $325.44 on Friday. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $305.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $247.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.09, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $330.32.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet has overtaken Apple to become the world’s second-most valuable public company, a market-cap milestone that signals investor confidence in Google’s AI-led growth story and may attract ETF flows and index-related buying. Google Claims Apple’s Spot on Most-Valuable-Companies List
• Positive Sentiment: Broker and media coverage has turned more bullish (upgrades and optimistic price-target notes), reinforcing momentum and giving investors confidence in further upside tied to Gemini/AI and search monetization. Alphabet Stock Gets an Upgrade. How Google Will Beat ChatGPT.
• Positive Sentiment: EU discussions reportedly spare Big Tech from the strictest aspects of a digital-rule overhaul, easing regulatory risk for Google’s ad and cloud businesses in Europe. Big Tech spared strict rules in EU digital rule overhaul
• Neutral Sentiment: EU antitrust regulators will rule on Alphabet’s $32B Wiz acquisition by Feb. 10 — a clear catalyst but with an uncertain outcome; approval would remove an overhang, while objections could delay or alter the deal. EU antitrust regulators to decide on Google’s Wiz deal by Feb 10
• Neutral Sentiment: Google and Character.AI reached settlements in lawsuits alleging chatbots harmed minors — this cuts litigation uncertainty but keeps reputation and product-safety issues on investors’ radars. Google and Character.AI to Settle Lawsuit Over Teenager’s Death
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (~$10.4M), a disclosed insider sale that slightly reduces his stake but appears routine and not an obvious signal of impaired fundamentals. SEC filing: Insider sale
• Negative Sentiment: Competitor dynamics: Nvidia hired a former Google marketing executive as CMO, underscoring intense competition for AI talent and marketing muscle in the AI infrastructure space — a subtle competitive headwind to watch. Nvidia Hires Google Veteran as Its First Chief Marketing Officer

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $310.00 to $370.00 in a research report on Thursday. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Melius Research upped their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $255.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $315.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $322.42.

Alphabet Company 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.