Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. Has $21.51 Million Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 88,370 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,461 shares during the period. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $21,510,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,298,572,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,182,111 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 73.5% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,388,775,000 after purchasing an additional 4,154,929 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,547.9% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $731,331,000 after purchasing an additional 4,099,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its holdings in Alphabet by 330.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,989,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $707,691,000 after purchasing an additional 3,062,590 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $69,365,318. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. BNP Paribas Exane began coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. Wolfe Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 2nd. DA Davidson set a $300.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $326.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $328.55 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $316.33 and a 200-day moving average of $260.79. The company has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $341.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a $0.21 dividend. 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%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major analyst upgrade and higher price targets highlight AI-driven upside — Raymond James raised GOOG to “Strong Buy” and boosted its price target (street chatter also shows multiple firms lifting targets), supporting investor confidence in Alphabet’s AI strategy and Google Cloud momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Big investors adding shares — Baillie Gifford disclosed adding ~1.19M GOOGL shares in the latest 13F filing, a sign of continued institutional accumulation that can underpin price support. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI ecosystem wins — Apple reportedly will use Google’s Gemini to power the next Siri, expanding Gemini’s distribution and reinforcing Alphabet’s AI moat and monetization pathways. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage remains focused on AI and technicals — Several outlets and analysts are publishing bullish previews and technical trading ideas (including MarketBeat, Zacks, TipRanks), which keeps interest high but doesn’t guarantee near-term moves. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo expansion vs. scrutiny — Waymo launched robotaxis in Miami (expansion signal), which can drive future growth for Alphabet’s autonomy segment but also raises operational/legal exposure as deployment scales. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: NTSB opens probe into Waymo after robotaxis passed stopped school buses — A federal safety investigation into repeated illegal passes in Austin (reported incidents across states) creates regulatory and reputational risk for Waymo and, by extension, Alphabet. That headline is the clearest near-term negative catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Antitrust litigation risk persists — A federal judge allowed a consumer antitrust lawsuit over Google Search to proceed, keeping legal exposure and potential remedies on the radar for investors assessing longer-term regulatory risk. Article Title

Alphabet Company 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.