JFS Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases 3,709 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 12.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 34,306 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,709 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $10,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $416,217,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. boosted its position 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 in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares during the last quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.7% during the 2nd quarter. Edmond DE Rothschild Holding S.A. now owns 1,457,732 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $256,896,000 after buying an additional 65,439 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wright Investors Service Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,171,000 after buying an additional 8,746 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target to $397, citing growing opportunities to monetize Google Cloud — a direct positive for revenue growth and valuation expectations. Wells Fargo raises PT
• Positive Sentiment: Needham reiterated a Buy with a $400 target, reinforcing buy-side analyst conviction and supporting upside narratives for the stock. Needham reiterates Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched Veo 3.1 Lite — a lower?cost AI video model — which should accelerate adoption of Google’s video AI tools and expand addressable market for cloud AI services. Google unveils cheaper AI video model
• Positive Sentiment: Bloomberg/press reports that Google plans a screenless Fitbit band later this year — a small but positive product diversification play that could help hardware revenue and ecosystem engagement. Google readies screenless Fitbit
• Positive Sentiment: Several outlets highlight recent analyst upgrades and buy-side interest (including a MarketBeat feature listing Alphabet among core AI/cloud plays), reinforcing momentum into mega?caps when market breadth favors growth. MarketBeat AI cloud list
• Neutral Sentiment: Zacks and Benzinga pieces note Alphabet outpaced the market and benefited from broad sector strength — helpful context but not a company-specific fundamental change. Zacks: Outpaced market
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet issued long?dated debt (including a 100?year tranche), a signal of financing flexibility and confidence in cash flows; bond activity is generally neutral for near?term equity moves but relevant for capital structure. Alphabet taps debt markets
• Negative Sentiment: Billionaire Ray Dalio trimmed his Alphabet stake — a headline that can stoke short?term selling or be read as portfolio rebalancing by large holders. Dalio reduces position
• Negative Sentiment: Child development experts petitioned Google to block AI?generated videos aimed at kids and Indonesia summoned Google over child social?media rules — regulatory and content?risk headlines that could pressure YouTube monetization and increase moderation costs. Experts urge Google on AI videos Indonesia summons Google

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price objective (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Roth Mkm increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group set a $348.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, February 2nd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $368.06.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 transaction of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,418 shares in the company, valued at $5,580,469.82. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’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 transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,092,234 shares of company stock worth $112,487,971. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.4%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $297.39 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.51, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.12. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $310.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $295.97.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. 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 analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Alphabet 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.