WestEnd Advisors LLC Has $53.84 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

WestEnd Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 10.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 221,451 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 26,618 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 1.3% of WestEnd Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest holding. WestEnd Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $53,835,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its stake in Alphabet by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 77.6% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 348 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $335.84 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.05 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.08. The business has a 50-day moving average of $309.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $252.67. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $340.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during 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, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and other analysts raised ratings/price targets (supporting upside and momentum for the stock). Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet cleared a major milestone — market commentary highlights a partnership with Apple (licensing Gemini for Siri) and broad device distribution, a validation of Alphabet’s AI stack and a material new licensing revenue stream that helped drive the stock to a multi‑trillion valuation. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product progress: Google is rolling Gemini features into consumer apps (Personal Intelligence in the Gemini app; Gemini AI coming to Gmail), which supports faster AI monetization and stronger ad/engagement prospects. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst consensus remains favorable but measured — reports note a “Moderate Buy” consensus, implying optimism but not unanimous euphoria. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: High-profile endorsements (e.g., media/hosts calling Gemini a hit) boost sentiment and retail interest, but they are qualitative catalysts rather than direct revenue proof. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Energy/infrastructure is a material operational headwind — Google says U.S. electrical transmission bottlenecks make powering new data centers slow and costly, which could constrain cloud/AI capacity expansion and raise capex timelines. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/reputational risk: advocacy groups are asking app stores to remove X and Grok, and broader content/regulatory pressure continues to create uncertainty around platform moderation and app distribution. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical / policy moves can ripple into product reach: for example, Australia’s new under‑16 social media restrictions are prompting pushback and workarounds, illustrating how policy shifts can affect user engagement and compliance costs in key markets. Read More.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $184,914.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 3,916 shares in the company, valued at $1,206,872.04. This represents a 13.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total value of $31,971.90. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,205 shares in the company, valued at $5,706,357.25. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 189,309 shares of company stock valued at $57,724,770. 11.64% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on Alphabet from $260.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research set a $380.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Susquehanna increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.31.

About Alphabet

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.