Waldron Private Wealth LLC Reduces Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Waldron Private Wealth LLC reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 59,076 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,920 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises about 0.7% of Waldron Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest position. Waldron Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,538,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Avaii Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Avaii Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. Accelerate Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,166 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $993,000 after buying an additional 34 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc increased its position in Alphabet by 3.3% during the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 1,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the third quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $504,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Searle & CO. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 5,703 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,389,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullishness and higher price targets: Wells Fargo and other brokers have raised price targets and reiterated Buy calls, highlighting growing opportunities to monetize Google Cloud and AI services — a direct positive for revenue/valuation expectations. Wells Fargo Raises PT on Alphabet (insidermonkey)
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional backing: quant/hedge players such as D. E. Shaw are shown as bullish in recent filings and write-ups, signaling continued big?holder conviction which supports investor demand and multiple expansion. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL): D. E. Shaw Is Bullish (Yahoo Finance)
• Positive Sentiment: New lower-cost / developer-focused AI models: Google rolled out cheaper video and music-generation models (Veo 3.1 Lite, Lyria 3 Pro) that expand addressable market for AI services and could drive higher Cloud/API usage and monetization. Google Introduces Veo 3.1 Lite (TipRanks)
• Positive Sentiment: New consumer hardware + recurring revenue push: Google is developing a screenless Fitbit band with subscription?based health coaching — a product + service combo that could grow wearables ARR and cross?sell Google’s AI services. Google Develops Screenless Fitbit Band (Yahoo Finance)
• Neutral Sentiment: Market breadth and macro risk-on helped mega-cap tech: Alphabet’s move is also part of a broader rally in large-cap growth and ETFs (QQQ/VTI) — a market?driven tailwind rather than company?specific news. What’s Going On With Alphabet Stock? (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Research leadership — quantum computing paper: Google research published findings on quantum risks to crypto, underscoring R&D leadership but not an immediate revenue driver; it can boost technical credibility. Google Paper Warns of Quantum Computing Risk for Bitcoin (Yahoo Finance)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory / content risk on YouTube: Over 200 child?development experts urged Google to block AI?generated videos aimed at kids, raising potential content?policy and moderation costs and reputational risk for YouTube. Experts urged Google to prohibit AI Videos targeting young YouTube users (Invezz)
• Negative Sentiment: High level of insider selling and prior legal worries: Recent SEC filings show continued insider sales and media pieces point to ongoing legal/antitrust scrutiny — both are negative sentiment drivers that can cap near?term multiple. Insider Sale: President of $GOOGL Sells 1,300 Shares (QuiverQuant)

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value 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 $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the sale, the director owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,092,234 shares of company stock valued at $112,487,971 over the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 2.8%

GOOG opened at $294.90 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $310.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $296.32. The company has a market capitalization of $3.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.28, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.13. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $350.15. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.15 EPS. 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 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price objective (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $348.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $345.71.

About Alphabet

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.