Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Allianz SE

Allianz SE cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 449,175 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 13,183 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 1.8% of Allianz SE’s holdings, making the stock its 11th largest position. Allianz SE’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $140,592,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 11.8% during the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $277,696,000 after acquiring an additional 93,293 shares during the period. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,902,000. Private Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,736,000 after purchasing an additional 2,678 shares in the last quarter. Finally, AE Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 8.5% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 924,927 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $224,850,000 after purchasing an additional 72,235 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s drone unit Wing expanded its Walmart partnership into seven more U.S. cities, pushing the service toward nearly 20 markets and signaling that drone delivery is moving from experiment to scalable business. Alphabet’s Most Overlooked Division Just Had a Big Week
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo launched a new $29.99 monthly membership program with perks for frequent riders, a move that suggests the robotaxi business is building recurring revenue on top of rapid ride-growth. Waymo launches premier subscription tier for $29.99 a month, starting in select cities
• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen raised its price target on Alphabet, adding to the bullish analyst backdrop and supporting the view that the stock still has room to run. Alphabet (GOOGL) Among Our Good Stocks to Buy Now
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and other commentary highlighted Alphabet as a long-term AI beneficiary, especially as rising model costs could strengthen demand for Google Cloud and infrastructure. Anthropic’s Priciest AI Model Yet Is Here. Why Alphabet and Amazon Will Benefit.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet sued an alleged Chinese cybercrime group accused of using Google’s AI tools to run scam operations, which shows the company is actively defending its platform but is not likely to move the stock much on its own. Google sues alleged Chinese cybercrime operation that used AI to send scam texts
• Neutral Sentiment: Some investors noted that Altimeter Capital fully exited its Alphabet stake in Q1, but this appears more like portfolio repositioning than a company-specific warning. Billionaire Brad Gerstner Dumped All of His Alphabet Then Bought 2 Stocks Nobody Expected

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $359.68 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $360.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $330.26. The stock has a market cap of $4.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23.

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

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Evercore boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.13.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.