Sunbelt Securities Inc. Cuts Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Sunbelt Securities Inc. lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 40,370 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,797 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.7% of Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Sunbelt Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,814,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $53,000. Corsicana & Co. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $54,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $310.92 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $349.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.76 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $318.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $291.74.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The company 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%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo and other analysts have moved upbeat on Alphabet, citing stronger AI and cloud positioning and raising price targets, supporting investor optimism about future revenue and compute advantage. Alphabet (GOOGL) Sees Optimistic Coverage From Analysts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet paid its first 2026 dividend of $0.21 per share on March 16, a concrete cash return that can support demand from income-oriented investors. Google stock just paid dividends; here’s how much investors received
• Positive Sentiment: Research houses continue to reiterate buy/overweight ratings (Needham reiterated a buy), reinforcing buy-side conviction and supporting price momentum. Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Buy Rating Reiterated at Needham & Company LLC
• Positive Sentiment: Google procurement teams reportedly visited China to discuss buying liquid cooling gear from local suppliers — a sign of continued data‑center expansion and potential cost/efficiency gains for its cloud and AI compute footprint. Google in talks with China’s Envicool, others to buy data centre cooling systems, sources say
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple market write-ups (Zacks, Yahoo, Motley Fool summaries) note Alphabet as a trending/overperforming stock due to AI and cloud tailwinds, keeping the name in retail and institutional screens but not providing new catalysts. Alphabet Inc. (GOOG) Outperforms Broader Market: What You Need to Know
• Negative Sentiment: European publishers and tech firms are pressing the EU to accelerate a probe and impose a fine over alleged search favoritism, creating regulatory uncertainty that could pressure margins or fines down the road. Exclusive: European publishers, tech firms urge EU to speed up fine on Google over search
• Negative Sentiment: Some analysts flag valuation and near‑term margin pressure as capex for AI compute ramps and higher operating costs could limit upside despite growth, a narrative that may cap multiple expansion. Is Alphabet Stock’s 25.55X PE Still Worth it? Buy, Sell, or Hold?

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Alphabet from $375.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. UBS Group set a $348.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. China Renaissance boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market outperform” rating and set a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Loop Capital raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $367.18.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at $720,914,730.12. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was 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 directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,076,615 shares of company stock worth $107,809,111. 11.55% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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.