Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stock: BDF Gestion Cuts Holdings

Key Points

• BDF Gestion reduced its Alphabet holdings by 16.6% in the third quarter, selling 15,827 shares and retaining 79,695 shares worth approximately $27.2 million. Alphabet remains the fund’s fourth-largest position, representing about 3.7% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet reported a strong latest quarter, with $9.11 in earnings per share and $119.8 billion in revenue, exceeding analyst expectations; revenue increased 24.2% year over year.
• Analysts remain broadly bullish, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $421.85, despite shares opening at $336.40 and recent concerns over AI spending, cloud reliability and litigation.

BDF Gestion decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 16.6% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 79,695 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 15,827 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 3.7% of BDF Gestion's investment portfolio, making the stock its 4th largest position. BDF Gestion's holdings in Alphabet were worth $27,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of GOOG. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Timbuktu Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $46,000. Robinswood Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the first quarter valued at approximately $57,000. Commonwealth Retirement Investments LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $86,000. Finally, Harborfront Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $89,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $336.40 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $340.64 and a 200 day moving average of $350.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $244.67 and a 12 month high of $404.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.11 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.19.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.31 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.55 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $420.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. China Renaissance cut their target price on Alphabet from $485.00 to $445.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, July 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $450.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on Alphabet from $440.00 to $435.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $421.85.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Cloud and AI-chip growth could support an earnings beat. Bank of America expects Alphabet’s third-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings to modestly exceed Wall Street forecasts, citing expanding Google Cloud capacity and strong demand for Alphabet’s custom TPU chips. Analysts remain broadly constructive, with several firms maintaining buy or overweight ratings. Alphabet's Cloud Growth, TPU Sales Could Drive Q3 Upside
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is expanding its AI ecosystem. Google released TorchTPU as an open-source PyTorch project, potentially making it easier for developers to use Google’s chips and reducing Nvidia’s software advantage. Google is also bringing a more personalized Gemini assistant to vehicles, which could deepen user engagement and ecosystem adoption. Google has joined Amazon in attacking Nvidia's stronghold
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo provides longer-term growth potential. Alphabet’s autonomous-driving unit plans to launch robotaxi service in Madrid in 2027 and reportedly aims to expand its fleet to 20,000 vehicles by the end of next year. The initiatives offer potential diversification beyond advertising and cloud services. Waymo to launch autonomous ride-hailing in Madrid
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s valuation continues to attract investors. Commentators describe GOOG as one of the more reasonably valued “Magnificent Seven” stocks, while recent institutional filings show additional purchases by some large funds. These signals may support the shares but are not immediate earnings catalysts. Amazon vs Alphabet
• Negative Sentiment: A Google Cloud outage disrupted U.K. banks and financial applications. Although services were largely restored, the incident highlights reliability and concentration risks as Google Cloud becomes more important to critical infrastructure. Google Cloud services largely back up in UK
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about AI capital spending. Expectations for heavier infrastructure investment, potentially weaker free cash flow and pressure on margins could overshadow strong revenue growth ahead of the October 28 earnings report. A broader AI-stock sell-off is adding to the pressure.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple law firms publicized a securities-fraud class action. The litigation alleges Alphabet misrepresented the timing or progress of its Gemini 3.5 Pro model. The announcements may weigh on sentiment, although the financial impact remains uncertain. Alphabet securities-fraud lawsuit

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the transaction, the director owned 19,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,494,424.20. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 402,479 shares of company stock worth $7,946,534 over the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known as the parent organization of Google. Founded in 2015 through a corporate restructuring, Alphabet oversees Google and a collection of businesses focused on technology, online services, communications, artificial intelligence, and other emerging areas.

Google's principal products and services include its internet search engine, digital advertising platforms, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and Google Workspace. The company also provides cloud computing, data storage, cybersecurity, productivity, and artificial intelligence services through Google Cloud.

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