The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.6% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 10,423,352 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 387,277 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 2.6% of The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest holding. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,997,216,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $2,232,808.20. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total transaction of $27,337.98. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 18,914 shares in the company, valued at $6,305,738.46. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $362.43 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $356.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $340.12. The company has a market capitalization of $4.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $193.67 and a 52-week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal 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 $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google is reportedly discussing a potential deal valued at more than $1.5 billion with AI coding-agent startup Mechanize. The arrangement could provide access to specialized talent and technology in a rapidly expanding AI application market. Google is in talks for a $1.5 billion-plus deal with AI coding agent startup Mechanize
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to benefit from strong fundamentals and AI-related growth opportunities, including its cloud business, advertising franchise and direct sales of custom Tensor Processing Units. Analysts remain broadly optimistic about the stock’s long-term growth prospects. Is Alphabet a Solid Growth Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet-owned Waymo opened its Dallas robotaxi service to all residents and visitors, supporting the company’s effort to scale autonomous-driving operations. Waymo opens up robotaxi service in Dallas to everyone
• Neutral Sentiment: Demis Hassabis is moving from leading Google DeepMind into an Alphabet chief scientist role focused on long-term research and AI safety. Management described the move as a leadership realignment, but investors are weighing whether it could disrupt near-term product execution. Google shakes up AI leadership as DeepMind chief shifts role
• Negative Sentiment: Longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean and three other senior AI researchers are leaving Google to launch Discovery Loop, an AI startup focused on automated research and drug design. The departures intensify concerns over the loss of influential technical talent during the AI race. Google chief scientist Jeff Dean leaving in AI reshuffle
• Negative Sentiment: The leadership overhaul comes while Google’s latest flagship Gemini release remains delayed, increasing investor anxiety about product momentum and competitive positioning. Why is Alphabet stock falling?
• Negative Sentiment: A U.K. tribunal allowed a roughly $6.7 billion advertiser class action to proceed, adding to Alphabet’s regulatory and legal exposure in its search and advertising businesses. UK Tribunal Rejects Google Bid to Block Advertiser Class Action

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, UBS Group cut their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

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.