Cooke & Bieler LP Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Cooke & Bieler LP reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 51.9% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,904 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 4,210 shares during the period. Cooke & Bieler LP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $949,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Monte Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. Monte Financial Group LLC now owns 7,692 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,870,000 after purchasing an additional 583 shares during the last quarter. Copia Wealth Management increased its stake in Alphabet by 85.2% during the 3rd quarter. Copia Wealth Management now owns 1,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 552 shares in the last quarter. White Wing Wealth Management purchased a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $275,000. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% in the third quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 25,760 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,262,000 after buying an additional 708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% in the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several analyst reports. Arete Research raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price target on Alphabet to $315.00 in a research note on Monday, October 20th. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 target price (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $357.46.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

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 directly owned 2,179,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $730,481,906.96. The trade was a 1.47% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, 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. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 2,067,686 shares of company stock valued at $105,352,291 in the last ninety days. 11.55% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Launched large U.S. investment‑grade bond program (~$15B) including very long‑dated tranches (reports of 50‑ and 100‑year paper), giving Alphabet cheap, long‑term funding to accelerate AI data‑center buildout and signaling strong credit demand. Alphabet’s debt raise fuels forecasts for record year in corporate bond sales
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo (Alphabet unit) expanded operations, going fully autonomous in Nashville — a tangible commercialization milestone that supports the long‑term growth story beyond advertising. Waymo goes fully autonomous in Nashville
• Positive Sentiment: Signed long‑term renewables deals: TotalEnergies will supply ~1 GW of solar to Google’s Texas data centers, supporting sustainability goals and predictable power costs for AI compute workloads. TotalEnergies to provide solar power to Google’s Texas data centres
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support remains constructive — JPMorgan reaffirmed a buy rating and several outlets report raised price targets, which can bolster investor confidence after last week’s volatility. MarketScreener: JPMorgan maintains a buy rating
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/sector context — Big Tech had a sharp pullback last week (>$1T erased), leaving stocks treading water; Alphabet’s debt move and analyst notes are being read against that volatile backdrop. Big Tech stocks are treading water after $1 trillion sell-off week
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet added new AI‑related risk language to its filings, flagging potential impacts on ad revenue and risks from large, long‑duration commercial AI contracts — a reminder investors may face execution and revenue‑mix risks as the company scales AI offerings. Alphabet calls out new AI-related risks, as it taps debt market to fund buildout
• Negative Sentiment: Autodesk sued Google alleging trademark infringement over AI video tools (the “Flow” name), adding legal uncertainty around some AI product branding and potential litigation costs. Google sued by Autodesk over AI-powered movie-making software
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sale: reports show the CEO sold roughly $10.9M of stock, which can be interpreted by some investors as a mild negative signal even if occasional executive sales are routine. Insider Selling: Alphabet CEO Sells Stock

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $324.32 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $140.53 and a 12-month high of $349.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $321.80 and a 200 day moving average of $272.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 7.77%.

Alphabet 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.