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

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 16.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor 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 portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest 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 (SEC).

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Alphabet by 5.6% in 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 last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in 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 worth $6,334,186,000 after buying an additional 1,631,721 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in Alphabet by 7.1% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 17,079,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,911,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,400 shares during the period. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership raised its stake in 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 owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Alphabet News

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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald lowered their target price on Alphabet from $420.00 to $350.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 29th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $480.00 price target (up from $465.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, October 20th. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a “market outperform” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $412.51.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $280.03 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $336.39 and a 200 day moving average price of $339.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.62, a PEG ratio of 0.84 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $270.70 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 2.79.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by ($0.90). The firm had revenue of $127.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. Sell-side analysts expect 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 issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.59%.

Insider Activity

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

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.