Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Wesbanco Bank Inc.

Wesbanco Bank Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 6.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 351,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 25,801 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 3.0% of Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $110,001,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Dbs Bank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Robert W. Baird increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $412.65.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $388.88 on Wednesday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $341.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $323.00. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google I/O 2026 showcased Alphabet’s expanding AI strategy, including new Gemini-powered models, upgraded search features, AI glasses, and ad products designed to monetize conversational search. This supports the case that Alphabet can defend and grow its core search business while creating new revenue streams. Google Flexes Its AI Muscles
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet also unveiled a more ambitious AI lineup, which suggests it is trying to stay ahead in the AI race and deepen integration across search, cloud, and advertising. Investors may see this as a sign of stronger long-term monetization. Alphabet Just Unveiled Its Most Ambitious AI Lineup Yet
• Positive Sentiment: Google is rolling out AI-powered ad formats that could improve ad performance and increase advertiser spending, helping offset fears that AI search will hurt ad revenue. Google rolls out AI-powered ad formats at Marketing Live
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned $15 billion Missouri AI data hub underscores its willingness to invest heavily in infrastructure to support future AI and cloud demand, which can reinforce investor confidence in growth durability. How Google’s $15 Billion Missouri AI Data Hub Strategy Could Reshape Alphabet’s (GOOGL) Investor Narrative
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is pushing for judicial oversight in Canada’s online safety bill, trying to limit the risk of secret orders that could weaken encryption. This is more of a legal/regulatory issue than a direct earnings catalyst, but it keeps policy pressure on the stock. Apple, Google push for judicial oversight in Canada online safety bill
• Negative Sentiment: OpenAI’s ad efforts are being viewed as a potential threat to Google’s keyword-based search advertising model, raising investor concern that AI-native competitors could chip away at Alphabet’s core search franchise over time. OpenAI is building a new kind of ad machine. Early data suggests Google should worry.
• Negative Sentiment: A report that Waymo’s robotaxi service ended a ride early and directed a passenger to Uber or Lyft could add to worries about execution risks in Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle business, though this is a smaller issue for the stock than search or AI. A Waymo car ended a ride early, then the company told the passenger to get an Uber
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that DuckDuckGo installs are rising as users reject Google’s AI search experience suggest some user pushback against the company’s search changes, which could matter if it signals broader search-share risk. DuckDuckGo installs are up 30% as users reject being ‘force-fed’ Google’s AI Search
• Negative Sentiment: A reported EU antitrust fine against Google would reinforce regulatory overhang and could pressure sentiment if the penalty is confirmed. EU plans to fine Google high triple-digit million euro sum as part of antitrust investigation

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061 in the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.