Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Holdings Cut by BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd

BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd reduced its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 95.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 39,950 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 760,050 shares during the quarter. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $9,730,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,511,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,266 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Alphabet by 8.6% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,240,469,000 after buying an additional 7,904,434 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in Alphabet by 5.8% in the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,749,864,000 after buying an additional 2,209,203 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,583,332 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,935,671,000 after buying an additional 223,743 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,503,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,588,323,000 after buying an additional 695,736 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: New CVS partnership (Health100) expands Gemini AI into consumer healthcare and creates a potential commercial channel across pharmacy, insurance and wearables — a tangible monetization path for Gemini models. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hired Bridgewater’s chief scientist Jasjeet Sekhon as chief strategy officer — a high‑profile AI talent acquisition that strengthens research and commercial push vs. OpenAI/Anthropic. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: Google’s updated Stitch / AI design tools are getting market traction and have pressured competitors (Figma, Adobe), signaling faster adoption of Google’s developer/designer workflows. Product wins can accelerate monetization of AI features. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Operational: Google signed utility deals to curb data‑center power use during peaks, helping secure capacity for AI workloads and reducing the risk of power shortages for new data centers. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud strengthened security via the Wiz buyout, improving its enterprise positioning against AWS/Azure — supportive for enterprise AI adoption and higher‑margin cloud growth. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory: Google will add an opt‑out for generative AI in search to address UK competition concerns — reduces near‑term regulatory friction but could limit product scope in the UK. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/market context: Strong analyst sentiment, recent dividend initiation and high price targets support longer‑term confidence but leave valuation sensitive to execution and capex. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Sundar Pichai and other insiders have executed large, repeated sales this month — amplifies short‑term caution and can pressure sentiment. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Supply‑chain/geopolitical risk: Greater reliance on Chinese suppliers for advanced liquid‑cooling (and possible acquisition) improves capacity but raises export, regulatory and geopolitical risk for AI infrastructure. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/valuation risk: Ongoing hyperscaler AI capex is large and raises questions about the timing of returns — a counterweight to optimistic AI revenue narratives and a potential drag on near‑term multiples. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They issued an “outperform” rating on the stock. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $345.71.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock valued at $118,134,117. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $305.73 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $350.15. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $318.27 and its 200-day moving average is $292.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.15 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

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.