Granite Investment Partners LLC Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Granite Investment Partners LLC cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 9.7% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 35,343 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,789 shares during the period. Granite Investment Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $8,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Delta Asset Management LLC TN lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 6,153 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,496,000 after buying an additional 37 shares during the period. Matisse Capital grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the third quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 14,814 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after buying an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,963 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the period. Finally, Avid Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter. Avid Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,714 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $660,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price target (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Citigroup increased their price objective on Alphabet from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $385.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. This represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total transaction of $184,038.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 20,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,325,999.52. The trade was a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094 in the last quarter. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.7%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $298.80 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.64, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50 day moving average of $319.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $286.87. 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:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large cloud commercial win — CVS will deploy an AI‑enabled health platform on Google Cloud, validating enterprise demand for recurring cloud/AI revenue and supporting the Google Cloud/Gemini growth story. CVS taps Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: AI partnership continuity — Google said Anthropic will remain available for non‑defense projects after DoD actions, limiting disruption to Alphabet’s access to Anthropic models and enterprise AI offerings. Google says Anthropic remains available
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional support — Robert W. Baird lifted its price target to $380 and other firms have boosted targets/ratings recently, reinforcing buy narratives and upside vs. the current price. Baird raises price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Small insider sales — filings show modest sales by a director and the CAO; routine disclosures that markets note but are not large enough to signal strategic conviction changes. SEC filing — insider sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary on recent pullback — coverage (e.g., Zacks) highlights the stock’s slide since earnings and asks whether it can rebound, offering investor viewpoints but no new company fundamentals. Zacks — can it rebound?
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/PR overhang: a wrongful‑death lawsuit alleges harmful guidance from the Gemini chatbot, raising potential liability, regulatory scrutiny and reputational risk for Alphabet’s core AI investment thesis. Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Autonomous‑vehicle scrutiny — the NHTSA/NHTSA‑led safety forum and ongoing probes into Waymo incidents increase regulatory risk and operational uncertainty for the self‑driving unit. NHTSA self‑driving safety forum
• Negative Sentiment: App store revenue pressure — a settlement with Epic lowered Play Store commission rates (to ~20% + up to 5%), which could modestly reduce Play‑ecosystem take rates and near‑term revenue. Play Store commission cut
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/geopolitical pressure — recent tensions and tech pullbacks in affected markets (e.g., Dubai exposure) are weighing on large‑cap tech multiples, contributing to negative sentiment around GOOGL. Tech offices respond to U.S.-Iran tensions

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.