Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Lowers Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 31.4% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 977,825 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 447,778 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.0% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $238,638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its stake in Alphabet by 36.4% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares in the last quarter. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% during the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, S&T Bank PA boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

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

Alphabet Stock Up 1.6%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $333.26 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $316.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $261.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.02 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.87, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $340.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. CIBC boosted their target price on Alphabet to $315.00 in a report on Monday, October 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on Alphabet from $340.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $332.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,337,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $662,526,494.12. The trade was a 1.37% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at $13,531,453.08. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 222,409 shares of company stock worth $68,564,532. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

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.