Capital Investment Counsel Inc Sells 1,786 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Capital Investment Counsel Inc cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 1.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 110,812 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,786 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 3.3% of Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest position. Capital Investment Counsel Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $26,988,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $32,000. IFS Advisors LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. WestEnd Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google’s new Project Genie AI model — which can turn short prompts into fully rendered, playable 3D worlds and characters — is being viewed as a strategic win for Alphabet’s AI leadership and platform reach; the announcement spooked game developers but signals a new product avenue for Google that could expand ads, cloud consumption and developer tools. Videogame stocks slide on Google’s AI model that turns prompts into playable worlds
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst note expects Alphabet to beat Q4 revenue and EPS as AI lifts ads and cloud demand — a direct fundamental rationale for upside to near-term earnings and investor estimates. Alphabet Could Power Past Forecasts As AI Lifts Ads, Cloud: Analyst
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buying: Vanguard reportedly added material GOOGL exposure in its latest filing, which supports demand for the shares from big passive/active holders. Fund Update: VANGUARD GROUP INC Just Disclosed New Holdings
• Positive Sentiment: Google disrupted a major residential proxy network used by bad actors, a security move that reduces abuse risk across its ecosystem and is a modest reputational/operational positive. Google disrupts large residential proxy network, reducing devices used by operators by ‘millions’
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street is focused on Q4 guidance and key metric estimates ahead of earnings; expectations and guidance will likely drive short-term moves more than some headlines. Ahead of Alphabet (GOOGL) Q4 Earnings: Get Ready With Wall Street Estimates for Key Metrics
• Neutral Sentiment: Profile/endorsement notes: coverage pieces and fund letters (e.g., Giverny Capital mention, Tim Cook comments on partnership) keep sentiment visible but are unlikely to move the tape materially on their own. Alphabet (GOOG) Contributed 4.7% to Giverny Capital Asset Management’s 2025 Growth
• Negative Sentiment: A former Google engineer was convicted of stealing AI trade secrets and uploading internal materials to personal cloud accounts — a legal/security headwind that raises concerns about IP protection and could prompt tighter controls and scrutiny. Former Google engineer found guilty of espionage and theft of AI tech
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo involvement in a pedestrian incident has triggered an NHTSA probe; regulatory/safety risks around Waymo’s rollout remain a potential liability and source of short-term volatility for Alphabet. A Waymo hit a child near an elementary school. The NHTSA is investigating

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total transaction of $9,743,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,239,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $671,437,776.20. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,070,485 shares of company stock worth $104,428,169. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price target on Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Pivotal Research restated a “buy” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Eight 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 two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $330.83.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $338.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $342.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.09 trillion, a PE ratio of 33.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.09. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $320.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $266.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

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.