Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Position Reduced by AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc

Key Points

• AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc cut its Alphabet stake by 7.6% in the first quarter, but still held 690,013 shares worth about $197.9 million, making GOOG its 7th-largest holding.
• Alphabet reported strong first-quarter results, with EPS of $5.11 beating estimates by a wide margin and revenue of $109.9 billion topping forecasts. Revenue rose 21.8% year over year, underscoring continued business strength.
• Despite positive fundamentals, the stock is facing AI-related concerns, including reports of key researchers leaving and worries that heavy AI spending could dilute shareholders and pressure free cash flow.

AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc lessened its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 7.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 690,013 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 56,494 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.6% of AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's holdings, making the stock its 7th biggest holding. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc's holdings in Alphabet were worth $197,854,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 187,102,863 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $58,712,878,000 after buying an additional 953,790 shares during the period. Auto Owners Insurance Co lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 38,409.2% in the 4th quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,643,262,000 after buying an additional 179,369,280 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 28,482.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $35,174,429,000 after buying an additional 111,699,704 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $31,569,189,000 after buying an additional 1,073,151 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 160,516 shares of company stock valued at $7,344,604 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 5.1%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $348.78 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $364.96 and a 200 day moving average price of $331.41. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $163.33 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. The firm has a market cap of $4.23 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.81 EPS. Alphabet's quarterly revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.71%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Negative Sentiment: Key AI researchers have left Alphabet for competitors, intensifying worries that the company is losing critical talent needed to lead in generative AI. Reuters: Google DeepMind signs AI research deal with film studio A24
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also worried that Alphabet’s aggressive AI spending plans, including a large equity raise to fund infrastructure and compute, could dilute shareholders and pressure free cash flow. Quiver Quantitative: Alphabet Slides as AI Funding Plan Fuels Dilution Worries
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also announced a $75 million AI research partnership with A24, showing it is still investing in new AI use cases, but this was overshadowed by the talent-loss narrative. TechCrunch: Google DeepMind bets $75M on AI's future in Hollywood with A24 deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent fundamentals remain strong, with Alphabet’s latest quarter beating expectations on both earnings and revenue, which helps offset some of the negative sentiment. Alphabet stock page

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Raymond James Financial restated a "strong-buy" rating and set a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Phillip Securities cut Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "moderate buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Pivotal Research reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $470.00 price target (up from $420.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 29th. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $376.78.

Alphabet Profile

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.

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