Smartleaf Asset Management LLC Buys 17,805 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Smartleaf Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 42.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 59,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,805 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 0.9% of Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,643,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. First National Bank of Hutchinson raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.3% in the third quarter. First National Bank of Hutchinson now owns 29,690 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,231,000 after buying an additional 4,371 shares during the period. a16z Perennial Management L.P. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $6,778,000. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 30,363 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,395,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. Timonier Family Office LTD. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Finally, Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 29.9% in the third quarter. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan now owns 239,986 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $58,643,000 after purchasing an additional 55,245 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reissued a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Loop Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,179,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $730,481,906.96. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 2,069,864 shares of company stock valued at $105,985,041 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI & Cloud momentum — Google’s Gemini and cloud businesses continue to show rapid user and revenue growth, supporting the company’s long‑term monetization outlook and attracting bullish analyst coverage (Scotiabank recently raised its target). Scotiabank Maintains Outperform on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: New AI shopping monetization tests — Google is rolling shopping features into Search and Gemini, a direct path to monetize AI interactions (ads in AI responses). This supports medium‑term revenue upside as AI becomes an ad/shopping channel. Google Weaves New Shopping Feature Into Search and Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo deployment progress — Waymo’s rollout of next‑gen Ojai robotaxis improves execution visibility for Alphabet’s autonomy unit and shows continued non‑ad growth investments. Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Century bond demand — Alphabet’s rare 100‑year bond and a large multi‑currency debt package were heavily subscribed, showing investor appetite for long‑dated paper but raising questions about signal vs. financing choice. Coverage is mixed on whether this is a positive demand signal or a red flag about heavy AI funding. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional flows mixed — some funds (Egerton, Fisher) added positions while others trimmed. Large 13F moves and continued analyst buy ratings keep a structural buyer base but create near‑term rotation noise. Egerton opens new $338.5M GOOG position
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probes into search ad auction practices — Reuters/Bloomberg report fresh EU investigations into Google’s ad auction/pricing practices in Europe, a direct regulatory risk to the core ad business and a catalyst for negative investor reaction. Google targeted by EU over search ad auction practices
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and financing fears — heavy FY2026 capex guidance ($175–185B), a $31.5B bond program and the century bond have spooked some investors concerned about free‑cash‑flow pressure and dilution risk, which contributed to recent share weakness after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings
• Negative Sentiment: Some big holders trimming — the Swiss National Bank and several funds have cut GOOGL exposure in recent filings, which can amplify downward pressure in the near term. Swiss National Bank reduces GOOGL holdings

Alphabet Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $309.37 on Friday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $3.73 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $350.15. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $322.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $274.25.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Alphabet Profile

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.