Aberdeen Group plc Lowers Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Aberdeen Group plc cut its position in Alphabet by 1.7% in Q4, selling 136,024 shares and now holding 8,049,743 shares (about 0.07% of Alphabet) valued at $2.52 billion, making GOOGL its 5th largest holding (3.9% of Aberdeen's portfolio).
• Significant insider and major-holder selling occurred recently—John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares and 2017 Gp L.L.C. sold 1,845,308 shares; insiders have sold 2,069,344 shares worth $104.7 million in the past 90 days, with insiders owning 11.64% of the stock.
• Positive AI/cloud catalysts and analyst upgrades (e.g., Google‑Intel partnership, Broadcom/Anthropic deals) are supporting bullish sentiment and higher price targets, while Alphabet trades with a $3.84 trillion market cap, a PE of 29.34, and a 0.3% dividend yield.

Aberdeen Group plc cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,049,743 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 136,024 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 3.9% of Aberdeen Group plc's investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest position. Aberdeen Group plc owned about 0.07% of Alphabet worth $2,519,570,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 6,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,978,000 after purchasing an additional 1,811 shares in the last quarter. Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 20.1% during the fourth quarter. Worth Financial Advisory Group LLC now owns 4,244 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,328,000 after acquiring an additional 709 shares during the period. Dorato Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $646,000. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 45.1% during the fourth quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,834 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,895,000 after acquiring an additional 5,856 shares during the period. Finally, Augustine Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Augustine Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,621 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $820,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Stronger AI/cloud positioning: Google expanded its multi‑year AI infrastructure partnership with Intel to co‑develop processors and power Google Cloud AI workloads — a sign of durable demand for cloud AI capacity that supports Google Cloud revenue growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom and Anthropic deals validate Google’s AI infrastructure strategy and the broader market for non‑NVIDIA accelerators — a constructive signal for Alphabet’s AI cost and supply relationships. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and media bullishness on AI adoption: BNP Paribas and other commentators highlight Gemini and Anthropic as drivers that can take share in the generative AI market, underpinning ad/productivity monetization upside for Alphabet. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Monetization tailwind — YouTube raised U.S. Premium prices, which should boost ARPU and subscription revenue over time. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Bullish price‑target action from Mizuho (raised to $420) reinforces upside thesis for investors focused on long‑term AI/cloud gains. (No link)
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest report is effectively meaningless/noisy for today’s move (data shows zero shares / reporting artifact), so it’s not the driver of the stock’s action. (No link)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory risk for Waymo: A California bill would require more human operators for robotaxis, raising operating costs and regulatory uncertainty for Alphabet’s autonomous‑vehicle ambitions. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: International/content regulatory pressure: Indonesia issued a reprimand to YouTube over new social media rules for children, underscoring regional enforcement risk that can hit engagement or require costly compliance changes. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Analyst downgrade pressure: Wolfe Research trimmed its price target from $390 to $360, which increases short‑term selling pressure despite the firm still rating the stock “outperform.” (No link)

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,069,344 shares of company stock valued at $104,708,426 in the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $317.20 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The company has a market cap of $3.84 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.34, a PEG ratio of 1.97 and a beta of 1.12. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $146.10 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $306.85 and a 200 day simple moving average of $298.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Wedbush upped their price target on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $360.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. New Street Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Wolfe Research cut their target price on Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their target price on Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $366.92.

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.

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