City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. Has $26.79 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd. lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 44.4% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 110,211 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 87,956 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 2.0% of City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. City of London Investment Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,792,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $53,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 37.9% in 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 last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. China Renaissance boosted their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 target price (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.18.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.4%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $302.28 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $319.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $290.39.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This trade represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,076,615 shares of company stock worth $107,809,111 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major competitor Meta has delayed a next?generation AI release and reportedly discussed temporarily licensing Google’s Gemini model, which could help Alphabet expand usage/licensing of its AI stack and win incremental share. Meta delays release; may license Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Needham & Company reaffirmed a “buy” on GOOGL and set a $400 price target (~32% upside from current levels), which can support investor confidence and buying interest. Needham reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlight Meta falling behind on large AI models (and considering licensing Google tech), reinforcing the view that Google could capture market share in foundational models and services. Meta falling behind — Yahoo
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch GOOGL, supporting a constructive fundamental view after recent results. Zacks: earnings growth & price strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Google, Amazon and Meta pushing their own AI chips signals a structural shift in AI infrastructure — a long?term positive if Google’s stack wins, but it intensifies competition with incumbents like NVIDIA and may pressure margins/capex. AI chips competition — Yahoo
• Neutral Sentiment: Google sold a partial stake in its GFiber unit and partnered to form a new independent fiber provider; this reduces direct capital burden but also trims ownership of the broadband growth asset. GFiber stake sale — CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/PR note: Google named its London HQ “Platform 37” referencing DeepMind/AlphaGo success — modestly positive for culture/AI branding but not material to near?term financials. Platform 37 naming — Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulator and wider regulatory scrutiny on tech safety and child protection remain overhangs for Big Tech, including Alphabet, since new rules or enforcement could increase compliance costs or constrain certain services. UK regulator warning — Sky

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.