Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Ardent Capital Management Inc.’s 3rd Largest Position

Ardent Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 100,485 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,342 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 10.4% of Ardent Capital Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 3rd biggest position. Ardent Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,473,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. IFS Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% during the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. Fairman Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% during the second quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google’s new Project Genie AI model — which can turn short prompts into fully rendered, playable 3D worlds and characters — is being viewed as a strategic win for Alphabet’s AI leadership and platform reach; the announcement spooked game developers but signals a new product avenue for Google that could expand ads, cloud consumption and developer tools. Videogame stocks slide on Google’s AI model that turns prompts into playable worlds
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst note expects Alphabet to beat Q4 revenue and EPS as AI lifts ads and cloud demand — a direct fundamental rationale for upside to near-term earnings and investor estimates. Alphabet Could Power Past Forecasts As AI Lifts Ads, Cloud: Analyst
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buying: Vanguard reportedly added material GOOGL exposure in its latest filing, which supports demand for the shares from big passive/active holders. Fund Update: VANGUARD GROUP INC Just Disclosed New Holdings
• Positive Sentiment: Google disrupted a major residential proxy network used by bad actors, a security move that reduces abuse risk across its ecosystem and is a modest reputational/operational positive. Google disrupts large residential proxy network, reducing devices used by operators by ‘millions’
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street is focused on Q4 guidance and key metric estimates ahead of earnings; expectations and guidance will likely drive short-term moves more than some headlines. Ahead of Alphabet (GOOGL) Q4 Earnings: Get Ready With Wall Street Estimates for Key Metrics
• Neutral Sentiment: Profile/endorsement notes: coverage pieces and fund letters (e.g., Giverny Capital mention, Tim Cook comments on partnership) keep sentiment visible but are unlikely to move the tape materially on their own. Alphabet (GOOG) Contributed 4.7% to Giverny Capital Asset Management’s 2025 Growth
• Negative Sentiment: A former Google engineer was convicted of stealing AI trade secrets and uploading internal materials to personal cloud accounts — a legal/security headwind that raises concerns about IP protection and could prompt tighter controls and scrutiny. Former Google engineer found guilty of espionage and theft of AI tech
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo involvement in a pedestrian incident has triggered an NHTSA probe; regulatory/safety risks around Waymo’s rollout remain a potential liability and source of short-term volatility for Alphabet. A Waymo hit a child near an elementary school. The NHTSA is investigating

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG opened at $338.53 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $342.29. The company has a 50 day moving average of $320.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $265.66. The company has a market cap of $4.09 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Piper Sandler raised their price target on Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Eight 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 two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $330.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total transaction of $202,512.00. Following the sale, the director owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at $7,163,524.48. This trade represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total transaction of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,224,380. This trade represents a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,070,485 shares of company stock worth $104,428,169. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.