Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 1,104,050 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 30.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,473,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 1,104,050 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.1% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $774,123,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Corsicana & Co. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $54,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and price-target raises reinforce bullish medium-term views — Wells Fargo raised its price target and kept an Overweight rating, and Needham reaffirmed its Buy with a $400 target; MarketBeat and other outlets note heavy analyst upgrading of GOOGL. These moves support upside expectations despite short-term weakness. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI innovation (TurboQuant / Gemini traction) is being framed as a competitive advantage — the company’s new compression research and Gemini adoption could lower AI operating costs and drive product differentiation, strengthening long-term revenue prospects. This is part of why some analysts lifted estimates and price targets. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Fundamentals remain solid: recent earnings beat, robust cloud growth and advertising resilience provide a valuation anchor and a reason many institutions view pullbacks as buying opportunities. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical correction — the stock has moved below $300 and broken key short-term support, which can amplify volatility even if the longer-term trend stays intact; investors should watch $280–$260 support zones. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Executive departure in India: Google’s top India counsel resigned amid ongoing regulatory challenges in a key market, a factor to monitor for regional regulatory execution but not an immediate earnings driver. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Landmark jury verdicts finding YouTube/Google liable in social-media addiction cases have created legal overhang and the possibility of broader litigation or regulatory exposure — courts and commentators compare potential fallout to past “Big Tobacco”-style settlements, increasing perceived legal risk for Alphabet. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: New lawsuits allege Google’s search/AI features disclosed personal information of Jeffrey Epstein victims; such privacy/AI-related claims add another legal/regulatory headline that can pressure sentiment and increase potential litigation costs or product changes. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech selloff — geopolitical war worries and landmark Meta legal losses have sparked rotation out of large-cap tech this week, amplifying Alphabet’s decline despite company-specific strengths. Market risk sentiment is a near-term headwind. Read More.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. DA Davidson lifted their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price objective on Alphabet from $305.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $368.06.

Insider Activity

In other news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at $720,914,730.12. This represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock worth $118,134,117. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.3%

GOOGL stock opened at $274.34 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $313.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $294.62. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.38, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for 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%. On average, equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

About Alphabet

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.