Janus Henderson Group PLC Raises Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 20.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,078,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 531,699 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $885,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is seeking up to $25 billion through a 10-part U.S. bond offering, with reports indicating orders could exceed $115 billion. The strong demand suggests investors and lenders remain confident in Alphabet’s credit profile, while the funds will support AI data centers, computing capacity and other corporate needs. Alphabet seeks up to $25 billion from its latest bond sale
• Positive Sentiment: AI demand continues to create growth opportunities for Google Cloud. AI lab Mirendil signed a multiyear agreement worth more than $100 million for Google Cloud computing capacity, reinforcing demand for Alphabet’s infrastructure and services. Mirendil signs Google Cloud deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Demis Hassabis is moving from day-to-day leadership of Google DeepMind to become Alphabet’s chief scientist and chair of DeepMind, with a focus on long-term research, artificial general intelligence and Isomorphic Labs. Management says the change is intended to improve coordination between research and commercialization. Demis Hassabis new role
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Hassabis’ reduced operating role, combined with the departure of longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean and other senior researchers, could weaken Alphabet’s ability to retain talent and compete in frontier AI. The leadership changes followed concerns about delays in Google’s next-generation Gemini products. Google AI leadership departures
• Negative Sentiment: The debt offering highlights the scale of Alphabet’s AI spending. Although borrowing can preserve cash for operations, it increases interest obligations and intensifies scrutiny over whether future AI revenue will justify the substantial capital investment. Alphabet bond offering and AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned $15 billion India data-center project faces opposition over potential effects on water supplies and wildlife, creating possible permitting, reputational and construction risks. Google India data center environmental concerns

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 over the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $445.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Dbs Bank lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Six 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.3%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $357.75 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.97, a PEG ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $356.20 and its 200-day moving average price is $340.31. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $194.33 and a 52 week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 4.42%.

Alphabet Company 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.