Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by UMB Bank n.a.

UMB Bank n.a. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.4% in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 702,780 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 10,069 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 2.5% of UMB Bank n.a.’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. UMB Bank n.a.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $170,846,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.3% in the third quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 54,192 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $13,174,000 after acquiring an additional 2,713 shares during the last quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.3% in the third quarter. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. now owns 11,067 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,691,000 after purchasing an additional 751 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Alphabet by 259.0% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 2,500,828 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $607,951,000 after purchasing an additional 1,804,265 shares during the last quarter. Victrix Investment Advisors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Victrix Investment Advisors now owns 46,588 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,326,000 after buying an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacksonville Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 9.2% in the 3rd quarter. Jacksonville Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,380 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $579,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group set a $348.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. HSBC boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $290.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $361.64.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and AI/cloud growth — Alphabet exceeded EPS and revenue expectations, Cloud revenue jumped ~48% and backlog expanded materially, supporting longer-term revenue and monetization from AI products. Alphabet’s Pullback: A Second Chance for Long-Term Investors?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism — Several firms raised price targets on GOOGL (noted lifts to $375 and $380), reflecting continued confidence in growth and upside vs. the recent pullback. Price Target Raised to $375 Price Target Raised to $380
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expansion — Waymo is deploying next‑gen Ojai robotaxis and using gig workers for door-closing operations, signaling commercial progress in autonomous mobility (long-term revenue optionality). Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong bond demand—but guardrails questioned — Alphabet’s recent global bond sale drew very strong demand (underscoring investor confidence), while commentary noted limited contractual protections for bondholders on a long‑dated issuance. This is liquidity/market-confidence positive but raises structural concerns for fixed‑income holders. Alphabet bonds’ lack of guardrails highlights investor confidence
• Neutral Sentiment: Century‑bond debate — Heavy demand for a 100‑year sterling bond signals long-duration appetite (positive for funding flexibility) but prompts caution about untested long‑dated issuance. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears Bond investors are betting on another 100 years of Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data appears unreliable — Reports show sudden increases but list zero shares and NaN changes (likely a data glitch); not a confirmed signal of rising short pressure. (internal short‑interest entries)
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probe into search ad auctions — European regulators are investigating Google’s ad-auction practices and pricing, which could lead to fines, operational constraints in Europe, or forced changes to ad platform mechanics. Google targeted by EU over its search advertising auction practices Google hit by fresh EU antitrust probe
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and AI arms‑race fears — Alphabet’s large 2026 CapEx outlook (~$175–185B) and the broader AI infrastructure spend among hyperscalers have raised investor concern about free‑cash‑flow strain and near‑term margin/return pressures; that theme contributed to short‑term selling after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings Mag 7 AI Arms Race: Heavy CapEx, FCF Strain
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness — Coverage notes that several mega‑cap tech names have softened (Magnificent Seven pressure), which amplifies selloffs in high‑multiple names like GOOGL even when fundamentals remain strong. Amazon Joins Microsoft in Bear Market

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total transaction of $10,893,350.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,179,372 shares in the company, valued at $730,481,906.96. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,064,308 shares of company stock valued at $104,383,469. 11.55% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $305.72 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $321.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $275.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The company has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Alphabet Company Profile

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.