Sterling Investment Counsel LLC Has $9.24 Million Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Posted by Francis Steltz on Jun 26th, 2026

Sterling Investment Counsel LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 4.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 32,137 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,505 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 2.6% of Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,241,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $4,338,397,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,546,413,000 after acquiring an additional 13,004,828 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 29th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Get Our Latest Report on Alphabet

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 151,523 shares of company stock worth $4,863,526 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $343.71 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $368.94 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $332.85. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $169.94 and a one year high of $408.61. The firm has a market cap of $4.16 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.71%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

Positive Sentiment: Alphabet was announced as the replacement for Verizon in the Dow Jones Industrial Average, a high-profile index inclusion that can boost demand from index funds and improve investor sentiment. Alphabet replacing Verizon in Dow Jones Industrial Average index
Positive Sentiment: Google Finance launched a new app and expanded portfolio-tracking tools, adding another product update that could support engagement across Google’s financial services ecosystem. Google Finance Debuts App and Investment Tracking Capabilities
Neutral Sentiment: Several reports noted Alphabet remains a favored large-cap tech name among some investors and that the stock had previously benefited from the Dow inclusion announcement.
Negative Sentiment: News that multiple AI researchers are leaving Google for rivals such as Anthropic and OpenAI is pressuring sentiment, as investors worry about talent retention and competitive pressure in AI. Alphabet Shares Fall After Report on Further AI Talent Departures
Negative Sentiment: Additional coverage of Google’s “brain drain” and reports that Gemini 3.5 Pro was delayed to July add to concerns that Alphabet may be losing ground in the AI race. Google delays Gemini 3.5 Pro launch to July as it tweaks its new frontier AI model
Negative Sentiment: The broader selloff also reflects anxiety around AI execution and competition, with investors reacting to talent departures and delays rather than the company’s longer-term fundamentals.

Alphabet Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.