Legal & General Group Plc Has $13.30 Billion Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Legal & General Group Plc lessened its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 37,212,257 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 546,634 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.8% of Legal & General Group Plc’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $13,298,544,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after purchasing an additional 2,666,676 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its position in Alphabet by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,630,861,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.3%

GOOGL stock opened at $330.65 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $235.84 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $347.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $343.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 27,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $445.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $420.19.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google announced plans to invest at least €13 billion ($15 billion) in Finnish data centers and AI infrastructure over the next two years—its largest-ever European investment. The facilities are expected to support Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube, while a power agreement with Fortum, including nuclear energy, may help address AI’s substantial electricity needs. Google to invest $15 billion AI infrastructure in Finland
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud and Accenture launched a joint unit deploying 1,000 engineers to help companies implement AI agents. The initiative could accelerate enterprise adoption of Google’s cloud and AI services and improve monetization of Alphabet’s infrastructure spending. Google Cloud and Accenture AI deployment deal
• Positive Sentiment: Co-founder Sergey Brin is taking a more active role in advancing Gemini, signaling increased founder involvement as Alphabet seeks to strengthen its position in the AI race. Sergey Brin takes bigger role in Google AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts continue to cite Alphabet’s strong return on invested capital, balance sheet and rapidly growing Google Cloud business as long-term strengths. However, the stock’s valuation is being assessed alongside its expanding AI infrastructure commitments.
• Negative Sentiment: The scale of the Finland and broader AI buildout increases capital expenditures and is pressuring free cash flow, creating uncertainty about when the investments will generate sufficient returns.
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s launch of the paid Muse AI agent raised concerns that autonomous assistants could bypass traditional search results, weakening Alphabet’s search advertising model. Higher Treasury yields are also weighing on high-multiple technology stocks. Meta Muse AI agent pressures Alphabet
• Negative Sentiment: Google warned that EU-mandated changes to its European search results could reduce search quality, increase costs for businesses and potentially affect user engagement. Google warns of lower-quality European search results

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology and holding company founded in 2015 through a restructuring of Google. The company is headquartered in Mountain View, California, and operates globally, serving consumers, businesses, advertisers and developers across numerous countries and regions.

Alphabet’s largest business is Google Services, which includes Google Search, online advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and hardware products such as Pixel devices. These products support activities including internet search, digital content distribution, mobile computing, online communications and advertising.