Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is Victory Capital Management Inc.’s 8th Largest Position

Victory Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 7,199,593 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 101,866 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.1% of Victory Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Victory Capital Management Inc. owned about 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,758,454,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Tradewinds LLC. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2,134.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 45,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,984,000 after acquiring an additional 43,080 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp lifted its stake in Alphabet by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 354,529 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,345,000 after purchasing an additional 84,553 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 157,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,272,000 after purchasing an additional 3,444 shares during the last quarter. American National Bank of Texas purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $900,000. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,164,341 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $206,542,000 after purchasing an additional 42,028 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google launched a faster, lower-cost Gemini 3.1 Flash‑Lite model and continues heavy AI/cloud investment — a clear revenue and margin growth thesis for Search and Cloud as AI adoption ramps. Google Launches Gemini 3.1 Flash-Lite
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and modelers are lifting Alphabet’s fair value and price targets as AI and “heavy compute” capex are re‑priced into long‑term cash flow expectations — a bullish fundamental backdrop for multiples. How The Alphabet Investment Story Is Shifting
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional buying and notable stakes (including Berkshire’s disclosed position) reinforce demand and provide a floor to volatility; many firms still carry buy/outperform ratings. Berkshire Holds Alphabet Position
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s management outreach (recent Morgan Stanley conference presentation/transcript) provides incremental visibility on strategy and capex cadence but contained new guidance. Morgan Stanley Conference Transcript
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest reports in the feed are inconsistent/low‑quality (zeros/NaN), so they’re not a reliable short‑term driver; ignore noisy short‑data anomalies until clearer reports arrive.
• Negative Sentiment: Escalating Middle East conflict has prompted temporary office closures and operational disruptions for tech firms, fueling broad market risk-off flows that pressure large cap tech stocks, including Alphabet. Offices Closed Amid U.S.-Iran War
• Negative Sentiment: Worker pushback and public scrutiny over military AI contracts could create reputational and contract‑execution uncertainty as Google negotiates Pentagon ties for Gemini — potential governance/PR headwinds. Employees Call for Military Limits
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure: OpenAI released a new GPT‑5.3 Instant model on the same day as Google’s Gemini update, increasing the pace of model competition and the need for continued R&D spending. OpenAI Launches GPT-5.3 Instant
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo (Alphabet’s AV unit) is under NTSB investigation for incidents involving stopped school buses, creating regulatory and liability risk that can weigh on investor sentiment for the broader parent. NTSB Investigates Waymo Incidents

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. BNP Paribas Exane initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $303.53 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The business has a 50-day moving average of $321.14 and a 200 day moving average of $285.34. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,078,926 shares of company stock worth $108,426,720. 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.