<div id="readability-page-1">Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 344,863 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,627 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 4.8% of Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding. Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $83,991,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.<ul><li>MarketBeat Week in Review – 12/15 - 12/19</li></ul>A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $23,963,208,000 after buying an additional 135,064,454 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,298,572,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,182,111 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 73.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,388,775,000 after acquiring an additional 4,154,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 17,547.9% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $731,331,000 after acquiring an additional 4,099,366 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock. <h2>Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades</h2>A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet from a &#34;moderate buy&#34; rating to a &#34;strong-buy&#34; rating in a report on Friday, November 7th. Loop Capital upgraded Alphabet from a &#34;hold&#34; rating to a &#34;strong-buy&#34; rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a &#34;buy (b)&#34; rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an &#34;outperform&#34; rating and set a $340.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an &#34;overweight&#34; rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of &#34;Buy&#34; and an average target price of $313.04.<ul><li>Why a SpaceX IPO Could Be a Major Catalyst for GOOGL Stock</li></ul>Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Alphabet<h2>More Alphabet News</h2>Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:<ul> <li>Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud scored a very large security‑services expansion with Palo Alto Networks that sources say is “approaching $10 billion,” a material commercial win that should lift cloud revenue and backlog expectations. Google Cloud lands deal with Palo Alto Networks</li> <li>Positive Sentiment: Brokerage momentum: Wedbush and other analysts have recently raised targets/ratings (new Wedbush $350 target) — analyst upgrades and higher price targets are supporting buyer interest. New Analyst Forecast: $GOOGL Given $350 Price Target</li> <li>Positive Sentiment: Talent win for AI: Coverage reports ~20% of Google’s 2025 AI software-engineer hires were “boomerang” ex‑employees — a sign management is successfully rehiring experienced AI staff amid intense competition, which supports execution on Gemini, cloud AI products and new hardware/software initiatives. Google's boomerang year: 20% of AI software engineers hired in 2025 were ex-employees</li> <li>Neutral Sentiment: Social/market chatter highlights AI product strength (Gemini updates) and Waymo funding talk — these narratives can lift sentiment but carry execution and valuation risk if monetization timelines slip. Opinions on AI Innovations and Waymo Funding</li> <li>Neutral Sentiment: Technical/trading signals: Power‑inflow/order‑flow alerts and recent intraday momentum have drawn short‑term traders into GOOG, amplifying moves on news. GOOG Hits Intraday High After Key Trading Signal</li> <li>Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal headwinds: Mexico’s antitrust authority ordered Google to drop certain Android restrictions, and a Spanish consumer group has opened preliminary legal action over alleged data collection — these actions raise compliance, litigation and product‑bundling risk in key markets. Mexico's antitrust commission resolves Android competition case Spanish consumer group seeks to sue Google in data row</li> <li>Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Multiple filings show director/exec stock sales (including CEO sales disclosed) — routine for tax/planning but some investors view concentrated insider sales negatively in the short term. Alphabet insider buying and selling</li> </ul><h2>Alphabet Price Performance</h2><ul><li>GOOGL's Unstoppable Momentum Drives Price Targets to Record Highs</li></ul>Alphabet stock opened at $308.61 on Monday. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $289.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $235.49. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $328.67. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.12 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year. <h2>Alphabet Announces Dividend</h2>The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%. <h2>Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet</h2>In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,369,619 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $592,760,192.85. The trade was a 1.35% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities &amp; Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,816 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, September 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $247.42, for a total transaction of $4,408,034.72. Following the sale, the insider owned 42,985 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,635,348.70. The trade was a 29.30% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 228,906 shares of company stock valued at $63,984,117. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders. <h2>Alphabet Company Profile</h2> (Free Report)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 &#34;Other Bets.&#34; 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.<h2>See Also</h2><ul><li>Five stocks we like better than Alphabet</li><li>I Shouldn't Be Sending You This</li><li>Wall Street Stock picker Names #1 Stock of 2026</li><li>They Laughed at $30. They Won’t Laugh at $70.</li><li>How Long Will $1M Last in Retirement?</li><li>Nvidia’s Dirty Secret</li></ul><img src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.marketbeat.com/scripts/SECFilingChart.ashx/query-UHJlZml4PU5BU0RBUSZTeW1ib2w9R09PRw?x-oss-process=image/auto-orient,1/interlace,1/resize,w_1440,h_1440/quality,q_95/format,jpg" width="650" height="350" original-src="https://imageproxy.pbkrs.com/https://www.marketbeat.com/scripts/SECFilingChart.ashx/query-UHJlZml4PU5BU0RBUSZTeW1ib2w9R09PRw"/>This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.<h2>Should You Invest $1,000 in Alphabet Right Now?</h2>Before you consider Alphabet, you'll want to hear this.MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Alphabet wasn't on the list.While Alphabet currently has a Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.View The Five Stocks Here </div>

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Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its position in Alphabet Inc. by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, now holding 344,863 shares worth $83.99 million. Alphabet is the firm's 4th largest holding. Other hedge funds also adjusted their positions in Alphabet. Analysts have given Alphabet a strong buy rating with an average target price of $313.04. Recent positive news includes a significant Google Cloud deal with Palo Alto Networks and successful rehiring of AI staff. However, regulatory challenges in Mexico and Spain pose potential risks.

- Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC increased its Alphabet Inc. holdings by 2.0%, owning 344,863 shares worth approximately $83.99 million.  
- Other hedge funds, including Kingstone Capital Partners and Vanguard Group, also significantly adjusted their positions, reflecting strong institutional interest in Alphabet.  
- Analysts have rated Alphabet positively, with multiple upgrades and a current average target price of $313.04, indicating strong market sentiment despite some regulatory challenges.

Franklin Street Advisors Inc. NC Has $83.99 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG