AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.8% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 966,488 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 48,226 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 3.7% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $276,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $32,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $52,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and set a $435.00 price objective (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. CICC Research increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $393.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the transaction, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 160,516 shares of company stock worth $7,344,604 over the last ninety days. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet will replace Verizon in the Dow Jones Industrial Average effective June 29, a notable prestige boost that could support passive fund buying and improve investor sentiment. Alphabet Set to Join and Honeywell International to Remain in Dow Jones Industrial Average
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reaffirmed its Buy rating on Alphabet, reinforcing confidence in the company’s long-term outlook. Alphabet had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by Jefferies Financial Group Inc.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet remains a major AI infrastructure beneficiary, with reports noting accelerating demand at Google Cloud, quarterly cloud revenue above $20 billion, and strong enterprise AI adoption. Alphabet Rides on Accelerating AI Infrastructure Demand: What’s Ahead?
• Neutral Sentiment: Google DeepMind announced a $75 million AI research partnership with A24, signaling continued investment in AI applications outside core search and cloud. Google DeepMind signs AI research deal with film studio A24
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is still dominant in search, but new reports suggest competition from AI-powered alternatives is putting pressure on its long-term search leadership. Google’s online dominance Is showing signs of cracking in AI era
• Negative Sentiment: Investor sentiment was hurt by the departure of key AI figures, including Noam Shazeer and John Jumper, raising concerns that Alphabet is losing talent to OpenAI and Anthropic. Alphabet paces for worst day in a year on AI concerns after high-profile exits
• Negative Sentiment: Several reports say Google’s search dominance may be starting to crack as users test non-AI or AI-free search options, adding pressure on the company’s core revenue engine. Google Losing Ground as Consumers Seek Out Non-AI Search
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market concern over heavy AI capital spending and higher rates also weighed on megacap tech shares, contributing to Alphabet’s weakness. Alphabet, SpaceX, Intel, and More Stocks That Explain Today’s Market

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

GOOGL opened at $346.66 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $166.13 and a 1-year high of $408.61. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.20 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $368.25 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $332.50.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly 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. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase 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 was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Alphabet Profile

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.