Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Purchased by PFG Advisors

PFG Advisors raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 7.5% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 76,885 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,360 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of PFG Advisors’ investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. PFG Advisors’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $18,725,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $32,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 145.0% in the third quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 196 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% in the second quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on GOOG. Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. Guggenheim reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, DA Davidson set a $300.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.90.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large enterprise/cloud wins and AI demand: Google Cloud deals (CVS health AI platform) and reported TPU leasing by Meta point to higher recurring cloud revenue and infrastructure utilization that support near‑term revenue growth. CVS taps Google Cloud Meta leases Google TPUs
• Positive Sentiment: Solid fundamentals/analyst support: Q4 results and earnings beats reinforce the “quality growth” narrative, and Bank of America’s reiterated Buy/$370 target keeps bull case intact. Q4 quality growth Bank of America maintains $370
• Neutral Sentiment: Anthropic access clarified: Google says Anthropic remains available for non‑defense uses after a DoD blacklist — this reduces near‑term disruption risk to customers but leaves policy uncertainty around defense contracts. Google on Anthropic availability
• Neutral Sentiment: Market narrative shifting: Analysts note GOOG’s strong 12‑month run has moved it from a “value” label to an execution/AI‑growth story — bullish if growth continues, but raises expectations. Forbes valuation piece
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical / physical risk to infrastructure: Reports that hyperscaler data centers are becoming military targets in the Iran war increase operational and security risk for cloud operations and potential outages. Data centers targeted
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal headwinds and fee cuts: The Epic Games settlement (lower Play Store commissions) and a high‑profile Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit raise revenue/margin and liability concerns for consumer services. Play Store settlement Gemini lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory scrutiny on Waymo / AV safety and technical/short‑term chart pressure: NTSB/industry scrutiny of autonomous‑vehicle safety plus technical analysts calling a short thesis add to near‑term selling pressure. Waymo NTSB scrutiny Chart short thesis

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $298.30 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $350.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $320.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $287.43. 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 earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.15 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 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.