Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Purchased by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.4% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 87,245 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 12,285 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.3% of Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest position. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $30,019,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 238,977,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,403,303,000 after acquiring an additional 12,718,127 shares during the period. Amundi raised its position in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 33,203,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,865,809,000 after buying an additional 1,457,371 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,724,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,334,186,000 after acquiring an additional 1,631,721 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 17,079,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,911,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,400 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 90.9% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,040,373 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,900,078,000 after buying an additional 8,112,680 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue more than doubled year over year in the latest quarter, and its reported backlog was about $561 billion, highlighting strong enterprise demand. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is in preliminary discussions related to the U.S. “Golden Dome” defense initiative. A contract could create a new, recurring revenue stream and help monetize its infrastructure investments, though no deal has been confirmed. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google plans to make its AI tools opt-in for K-12 students, responding to concerns from educators and policymakers. Reports that restricting AI could also limit Search have drawn political criticism, creating reputational risk while the company adjusts its school policies. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent earnings concerns continue to weigh on the outlook: Alphabet missed quarterly EPS expectations, Search growth slowed, and AI-generated results may produce less advertising revenue than traditional Search. ChatGPT’s search volume is also reported at roughly 20% of Google’s, underscoring competition for users. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Heavy AI infrastructure spending pushed free cash flow negative, and management expects capital expenditures to rise further. That raises questions about when the investment will generate sufficient returns and may help explain continued pressure on the shares after earnings. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms publicized an existing securities class action concerning alleged statements about Gemini 3.5 Pro training results. The repeated notices do not indicate separate new cases, but the litigation could add legal and reputational risk. Read More.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $280.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a PE ratio of 14.62, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $270.70 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.79, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $336.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $339.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.02 by ($0.90). Alphabet had a net margin of 50.03% and a return on equity of 43.33%. The company had revenue of $127.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.96 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.86 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,494,424.20. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders sold a total of 247 shares of company stock valued at $79,238 in the last three months. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms recently commented on GOOGL. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a “market perform” rating and set a $325.00 target price (down from $385.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Cantor Fitzgerald dropped their target price on Alphabet from $420.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. DA Davidson dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Alphabet from $447.00 to $375.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, October 30th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $412.51.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known for its Google subsidiary. Google operates a global internet-services business centered on online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a broad range of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

Google Cloud provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software services to businesses, governments, and other organizations. Alphabet also develops consumer hardware, including Pixel devices and products for connected homes, while investing in emerging businesses through its “Other Bets” segment, including autonomous transportation and life sciences initiatives.

Alphabet was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that made Google a subsidiary and provided a separate structure for its expanding portfolio of businesses.