Banco Santander S.A. Sells 24,852 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Banco Santander S.A. decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 464,938 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 24,852 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.0% of Banco Santander S.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest position. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $113,236,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 60.9% during the 2nd quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Citigroup reissued a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Scotiabank restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Raymond James Financial raised Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $315.00 to $400.00 in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $343.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at $3,337,229.80. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,818,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $856,605,814.08. The trade was a 1.14% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,112,380 shares of company stock valued at $119,112,888. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $311.43 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $321.49 and its 200 day moving average is $283.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.Alphabet’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded AI image generator with faster performance and better text handling — reinforces product leadership for Gemini/search integrations and helps drive user engagement across Google services. Google launches Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly struck a multibillion-dollar deal to rent its AI chips (TPUs) to Meta — a direct revenue and margin-positive outcome from Alphabet’s AI infrastructure investments. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is securing power supply agreements for data centers (deals with AES and Xcel), which reduces execution risk for its AI/cloud buildout and supports continued capacity expansion. Alphabet Secures Power Deals
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data, opening commercial opportunities for Google Maps and Waymo in a market previously restricted — potential revenue and product expansion tailwind. South Korea approves Google bid
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy investors continue to add to Alphabet: notable buying by billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was reported — an endorsement that can support sentiment among long-term institutional investors. Druckenmiller buys Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage and buy ratings remain favorable (recent upgrades and positive notes on cloud/AI), supporting longer-term upside expectations even after concerns about spending. MarketBeat coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest updates in available feeds show anomalous/zero reporting and NaN changes — appears to be noisy data and unlikely to be driving today’s move. (Data entries flagged as 0/NaN.)
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition authorities opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — a regulatory risk that could pressure ad margins or lead to fines/operational changes in Europe. Belgian watchdog probe
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure intensified after OpenAI raised massive funding with Amazon/Nvidia/Microsoft as backers — concentrates AI competition and could blunt parts of Google’s enterprise opportunity or pricing power. OpenAI record funding report
• Negative Sentiment: Investor cautions: critics (Michael Burry, some options trade services) have flagged Alphabet’s aggressive AI capex and warned of margin pressure — a reminder of downside risk if spending outpaces near-term monetization. Michael Burry on Google’s AI spending

About Alphabet

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.