Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stake Cut by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 23.7% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,885,894 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 587,341 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.8% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest holding. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $542,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY raised its holdings in Alphabet by 17.6% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet officially joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Verizon, which has sparked broad investor buying and index-fund demand. Reuters: Alphabet debuts in Dow Jones Industrial Average as index tilts toward tech
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports note Alphabet’s stock rose on the Dow debut, reflecting renewed investor enthusiasm and momentum around the company’s large-cap tech and AI position. CNBC: Alphabet stock pops 4% on Dow debut, but the tech giant faces major AI questions
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating on Alphabet with a $445 price target, suggesting Wall Street still sees meaningful upside despite the recent pullback. Yahoo Finance: Jefferies Maintain a Buy Rating on Alphabet (GOOGL)
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also gained attention from fresh coverage highlighting its cloud and AI partnerships, including Google Cloud’s collaboration with the Philippine government on AI agents for public services. Yahoo Finance: Alphabet’s Google Cloud Partners with Philippine Government to Deploy AI Agents in Public Services
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also weighing concerns that strong AI demand is being constrained by limited compute capacity, which may cap near-term growth even as demand remains high. Reuters: Google limits Meta’s use of its Gemini AI models, FT reports
• Negative Sentiment: Some articles point out that Alphabet has been under pressure recently due to AI-spending concerns and broader weakness in big tech, so the Dow inclusion may be helping offset a weak monthly trend. CNBC: Alphabet stock pops 4% on Dow debut, but the tech giant faces major AI questions

Alphabet Stock Up 4.8%

GOOGL stock opened at $353.55 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $172.77 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.28 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $369.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $333.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at $9,345,358.56. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 151,972 shares of company stock worth $5,016,958. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $420.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Freedom Capital lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Mizuho upped their target price on Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered their price target on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

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.