Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Boosts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 12.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 45,014 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,848 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,125,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 145.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 196 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 56.8% in the third quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 218 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 79 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $286.71 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $311.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $296.33. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $350.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.47 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.52, a P/E/G ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were 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 was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the sale, the director owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at $5,580,469.82. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,092,234 shares of company stock worth $112,487,971 in the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Veo 3.1 Lite — a lower?cost, high?throughput video generation model aimed at developers and large content creators. Investors see this as product-led monetization and broader adoption of Google’s AI stack. Google Introduces Veo 3.1 Lite, a New AI Video Model
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet released Lyria 3 Pro, extending its generative-music capabilities to longer, studio?quality tracks — another example of product expansion in creative AI that could boost engagement and new developer/customer use cases. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Releases Lyria 3 Pro for Generating Longer Music Tracks
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a Buy on GOOGL with a $400 price target, reinforcing bullish analyst sentiment and supporting investor confidence in long?term upside tied to cloud and AI. Needham Reiterates Buy on Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) With $400 Price Target
• Neutral Sentiment: Google researchers published a paper showing quantum computing may pose a nearer?term risk to Bitcoin encryption than thought — high?profile science that raises discussion but is not an immediate revenue driver for Alphabet. Google Paper Warns of Quantum Computing Risk for Bitcoin
• Neutral Sentiment: Market breadth and ETF flows are helping the move: GOOGL is a meaningful weight in major ETFs (QQQ, VTI, VOO) that are higher today, so part of the share gain is index/ETF?driven rather than stock?specific. QQQ is up 1.3% today, on PLTR stock price movement
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling continues (President John Kent Walker sold 1,300 shares on 3/27 and director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares on 3/30), adding to a recent pattern of large insider disposals that can create near?term investor concern about management/insider allocation decisions. Insider Sale: President of $GOOGL Sells 1,300 Shares Insider Sale: Director at $GOOGL Sells 102 Shares
• Negative Sentiment: Legal and search?related headwinds remain a risk: coverage highlights adverse legal verdicts and a UK publisher (Future plc) warning that Google search changes are hitting publisher margins — items that can fuel regulatory scrutiny and uncertainty around search monetization mix. As GOOG Stock Falls on Legal Woes Should You Jump to Buy the Dip? UK publisher Future’s shares plummet as changes in Google search traffic hit margins

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $345.71.

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.