Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Acquires 51,025 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 22.3% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 279,844 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,025 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $68,156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Bleakley Financial Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the second quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 170,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,160,000 after acquiring an additional 2,304 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 157,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $38,272,000 after buying an additional 3,444 shares during the period. American National Bank of Texas bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $900,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.7% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,164,341 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $206,542,000 after acquiring an additional 42,028 shares during the period. Finally, Tower View Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Tower View Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,904,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total transaction of $31,971.90. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,205 shares in the company, valued at $5,706,357.25. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total value of $202,512.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 21,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,163,524.48. This trade represents a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 192,687 shares of company stock worth $58,728,068 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $320.31.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major commercial validation — Apple’s decision to use Google’s Gemini to power the next-generation Siri is being treated as a high-margin licensing win and a distribution multiplier for Gemini; MarketBeat highlights this deal as a key catalyst behind Alphabet clearing a $4 trillion market cap. Alphabet Tops $4 Trillion Valuation as AI Momentum Runs HotMarketBeat: Alphabet Tops $4 Trillion Valuation
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum — DeepMind and Google product teams are working closely (DeepMind CEO says daily dialogue with Google CEO) as Gemini and other AI features (e.g., Personal Intelligence) accelerate integration across Google apps — supports revenue/monetization pathways. DeepMind CEO is talking to Google CEO ‘every day’ as lab ramps up competition with OpenAICNBC: DeepMind/Google collaboration
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and market momentum — Multiple analyst upgrades and higher price targets (Goldman, BofA, Wells Fargo, Cantor, Jefferies) plus bullish media commentary (including Jim Cramer) are supporting investor sentiment and inflows. Is Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) The Most Profitable US Stock to Buy?InsiderMonkey: analyst coverage & targets
• Neutral Sentiment: Commercial pilots & partnerships — Google will power agentic AI for Woolworths’ Olive chatbot in Australia later this year, a useful commercial test but limited near-term revenue impact. Do Woolworths shoppers want Google AI adding items to buy? We’ll soon find outTechXplore: Woolworths pilot
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector tailwinds — Large forecasts for AI spending boost the long-term thesis for hyperscalers, but they also imply higher capex and competitive intensity across cloud and GPU suppliers. NVDA, GOOGL, META: AI Spending Forecast to Hit $2.53 Trillion This YearTipRanks: AI spending forecast
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal risk — Google asked a U.S. judge to pause an order forcing it to share data with rivals while it appeals an antitrust ruling; litigation outcomes could materially affect search economics and competitive positioning. Google asks US judge to defer order forcing it to share data while it appealsReuters: appeal to defer data-sharing order
• Negative Sentiment: AI training litigation — Major publishers are seeking to join a class-action suit alleging Google used copyrighted works to train AI models; potential damages, injunctions or limits on training data could raise costs and slow model development. Publishers seek to join lawsuit against Google over AI trainingReuters: publishers move to join lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling & operational constraints — Reports show heavy insider sales (including large Sundar Pichai stock disposals) and Alphabet warns U.S. electrical transmission bottlenecks are slowing data‑centre hookups, which could constrain capacity growth for cloud/AI workloads. Insider selling and lobbying disclosureQuiverQuant: insider sales / lobbying • Google says US transmission system is biggest challenge for connecting data centersReuters: data-center transmission constraints

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $330.34 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $312.04 and a 200 day moving average of $256.10. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $142.66 and a twelve month high of $341.20. The stock has a market cap of $3.99 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.12 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Alphabet Company 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.