Sentry Investment Management LLC Decreases Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Sentry Investment Management LLC lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,815 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.0% of Sentry Investment Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th largest position. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,976,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Waterloo Capital L.P. lifted its position in Alphabet by 25.5% during the third quarter. Waterloo Capital L.P. now owns 34,523 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,408,000 after purchasing an additional 7,013 shares during the last quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 12.1% during the third quarter. Black Diamond Financial LLC now owns 10,599 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,142 shares during the last quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 148.1% in the 3rd quarter. Homestead Advisers Corp now owns 293,360 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $71,448,000 after purchasing an additional 175,100 shares in the last quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.6% during the 3rd quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 37,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,022,000 after purchasing an additional 3,550 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Kondo Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 2,108 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $513,000 after buying an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Scotiabank reiterated an Outperform and lifted its price target to $400, citing Google’s solid results and AI positioning — a bullish analyst signal that supports upside expectations. Scotiabank Maintains its Outperform Rating on Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL)
• Positive Sentiment: EU regulators cleared Alphabet’s $32B Wiz acquisition unconditionally, removing a major regulatory overhang and making the deal a nearer-term strategic win for Google Cloud/security. Google secures EU antitrust approval for $32 billion Wiz acquisition
• Positive Sentiment: Google is adding shopping/ad formats into AI Search and Gemini, opening a new direct monetization channel for AI answers — potential incremental ad/commerce revenue. Google Weaves New Shopping Feature Into Search and Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional flows show conviction from some large investors: Egerton opened a ~$338.5M GOOG position and several funds (e.g., TD Asset Management, Homestead) added shares in recent filings — signals of continued institutional demand. Egerton opens new $338.5M GOOG position
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet participated in a major robotics/AI funding round (Apptronik), underscoring strategic bets and partnerships in robotics and AI ecosystems. Apptronik raises $520M with backing from Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Fund-level portfolio moves are mixed: some managers trimmed GOOG while others added sizeable allocations — useful for tracking flow but mixed near-term directional impact. (Various 13F updates)
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s unusually large debt raise (century bond and >$20–$30B offering) has spooked some investors — analysts and headlines flagged “debt anxiety,” and the fundraising is cited as a key reason for short-term selling despite strong demand for the bonds. Alphabet sells bonds worth $20 billion to fund AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy/regulatory risk: reporting that Google disclosed a student journalist’s personal/financial data to ICE without a judge-approved subpoena raises reputational and potential regulatory scrutiny risks. Google sent personal and financial information of student journalist to ICE

Alphabet Trading Down 2.3%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $311.32 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $322.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $274.01. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.89 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. DA Davidson set a $300.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,069,864 shares of company stock valued at $105,985,041. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.