Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $393.94 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,252,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,200 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $393,937,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $4,298,572,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Alphabet by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after purchasing an additional 7,904,434 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 73.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,388,775,000 after buying an additional 4,154,929 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,547.9% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $731,331,000 after buying an additional 4,099,366 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 330.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,989,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $707,691,000 after buying an additional 3,062,590 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud wins a bigger role in UK infrastructure: Openreach expanded its Google Cloud/Gemini AI use to accelerate fibre rollout and cut fleet emissions — a commercial + ESG win that could drive Cloud revenue and stickier enterprise relationships. Openreach taps Google AI to speed fibre rollout, cut emissions
• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind expands robotics footprint: Partnership with Agile Robots to integrate Gemini Robotics models with hardware strengthens Alphabet’s AI-to-robotics moat and potential new product lines. Google partners with Agile Robots, growing its AI robotics footprint
• Positive Sentiment: Agentic commerce monetization: Gap (and other merchants) integrating checkout inside Gemini signals early commerce monetization paths for Alphabet’s AI platform. Gap becomes the first major fashion company to offer checkout within Google’s Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud wins in fintech tokenization: BMO/CME tokenized cash platform built on Google Cloud expands financial services use cases for the platform. BMO to launch tokenized cash platform with CME and Google Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst optimism and price targets remain supportive: Several bullish forecasts and high median price targets (many analysts still see significant upside over 12 months), which underpins longer‑term sentiment but may not stop short‑term volatility. Alphabet Stock Forecast: Can GOOGL Deliver Nearly 40% Gains in 12 Months?
• Neutral Sentiment: Wing drone expansion and other long‑term bets continue (e.g., Bay Area drone rollout, energy PPAs with Google Energy) — positive strategically but low near‑term revenue impact. Alphabet’s Wing to start drone delivery in San Francisco Bay Area
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk heightened: EU antitrust chief is meeting Big Tech CEOs as the Commission scrutinizes AI‑era dominance — this increases the likelihood of policy actions that could constrain business models or impose compliance costs. EU antitrust chief meets Google, Meta, OpenAI, Amazon CEOs amidst AI scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term selling pressure and technical concerns: social‑media traders flag a head‑and‑shoulders/technical breakdown while recent coverage highlights notable daily declines and aggressive insider selling activity — factors likely feeding today’s weakness. Alphabet Stock (GOOGL) Opinions on Technical Breakdown and AI Developments
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/jury trial noise: ongoing high‑profile litigation involving big tech (reported jury difficulties) adds headline risk that can amplify volatility. Jury in landmark Meta, Google addiction trial having difficulty coming to consensus

Insider Buying and Selling

In other 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $5,580,469.82. The trade was a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock valued at $118,134,117 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GOOG. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $345.71.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $289.20 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $316.04 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $294.86. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $350.15. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

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.