Rathbones Group PLC Sells 88,225 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Rathbones Group PLC reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.4% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,907,557 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 88,225 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 1.9% of Rathbones Group PLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $464,586,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at about $4,298,572,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Alphabet by 8.6% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $24,240,469,000 after purchasing an additional 7,904,434 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Alphabet by 73.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,388,775,000 after acquiring an additional 4,154,929 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 17,547.9% during the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $731,331,000 after acquiring an additional 4,099,366 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large enterprise/cloud wins and AI demand: Google Cloud deals (CVS health AI platform) and reported TPU leasing by Meta point to higher recurring cloud revenue and infrastructure utilization that support near?term revenue growth. CVS taps Google Cloud Meta leases Google TPUs
• Positive Sentiment: Solid fundamentals/analyst support: Q4 results and earnings beats reinforce the “quality growth” narrative, and Bank of America’s reiterated Buy/$370 target keeps bull case intact. Q4 quality growth Bank of America maintains $370
• Neutral Sentiment: Anthropic access clarified: Google says Anthropic remains available for non?defense uses after a DoD blacklist — this reduces near?term disruption risk to customers but leaves policy uncertainty around defense contracts. Google on Anthropic availability
• Neutral Sentiment: Market narrative shifting: Analysts note GOOG’s strong 12?month run has moved it from a “value” label to an execution/AI?growth story — bullish if growth continues, but raises expectations. Forbes valuation piece
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical / physical risk to infrastructure: Reports that hyperscaler data centers are becoming military targets in the Iran war increase operational and security risk for cloud operations and potential outages. Data centers targeted
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal headwinds and fee cuts: The Epic Games settlement (lower Play Store commissions) and a high?profile Gemini wrongful?death lawsuit raise revenue/margin and liability concerns for consumer services. Play Store settlement Gemini lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory scrutiny on Waymo / AV safety and technical/short?term chart pressure: NTSB/industry scrutiny of autonomous?vehicle safety plus technical analysts calling a short thesis add to near?term selling pressure. Waymo NTSB scrutiny Chart short thesis

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $298.30 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15. The company has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. The business’s 50 day moving average is $320.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $286.82. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock worth $118,605,094. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. DZ Bank raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.