Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Bought by Thrivent Financial for Lutherans

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 259.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,500,828 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,804,265 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.2% of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Alphabet were worth $607,951,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $21,944,208,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 17,667.7% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after buying an additional 10,843,853 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after acquiring an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 201.3% during the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 6,547,250 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,153,824,000 after acquiring an additional 4,374,542 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and AI/cloud growth — Alphabet exceeded EPS and revenue expectations, Cloud revenue jumped ~48% and backlog expanded materially, supporting longer-term revenue and monetization from AI products. Alphabet’s Pullback: A Second Chance for Long-Term Investors?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism — Several firms raised price targets on GOOGL (noted lifts to $375 and $380), reflecting continued confidence in growth and upside vs. the recent pullback. Price Target Raised to $375 Price Target Raised to $380
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expansion — Waymo is deploying next‑gen Ojai robotaxis and using gig workers for door-closing operations, signaling commercial progress in autonomous mobility (long-term revenue optionality). Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong bond demand—but guardrails questioned — Alphabet’s recent global bond sale drew very strong demand (underscoring investor confidence), while commentary noted limited contractual protections for bondholders on a long‑dated issuance. This is liquidity/market-confidence positive but raises structural concerns for fixed‑income holders. Alphabet bonds’ lack of guardrails highlights investor confidence
• Neutral Sentiment: Century‑bond debate — Heavy demand for a 100‑year sterling bond signals long-duration appetite (positive for funding flexibility) but prompts caution about untested long‑dated issuance. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears Bond investors are betting on another 100 years of Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data appears unreliable — Reports show sudden increases but list zero shares and NaN changes (likely a data glitch); not a confirmed signal of rising short pressure. (internal short‑interest entries)
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probe into search ad auctions — European regulators are investigating Google’s ad-auction practices and pricing, which could lead to fines, operational constraints in Europe, or forced changes to ad platform mechanics. Google targeted by EU over its search advertising auction practices Google hit by fresh EU antitrust probe
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and AI arms‑race fears — Alphabet’s large 2026 CapEx outlook (~$175–185B) and the broader AI infrastructure spend among hyperscalers have raised investor concern about free‑cash‑flow strain and near‑term margin/return pressures; that theme contributed to short‑term selling after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings Mag 7 AI Arms Race: Heavy CapEx, FCF Strain
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness — Coverage notes that several mega‑cap tech names have softened (Magnificent Seven pressure), which amplifies selloffs in high‑multiple names like GOOGL even when fundamentals remain strong. Amazon Joins Microsoft in Bear Market

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $305.72 on Friday. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $274.95. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Wedbush boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. President Capital lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC increased their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $361.64.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were 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 owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at $720,914,730.12. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,067,086 shares of company stock valued at $105,184,255 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is currently 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.