Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Rakuten Securities Inc.'s 5th Largest Position

Key Points

• Rakuten Securities boosted its Alphabet stake by 416.3% in the fourth quarter, making GOOGL its 5th largest holding and about 5.2% of its portfolio.
• Alphabet reported better-than-expected Q1 results, posting EPS of $5.11 versus estimates of $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion versus $106.98 billion expected.
• Analysts remain constructive on the stock, with a Moderate Buy consensus and a $407.86 price target, while Alphabet also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share.

Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 416.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 51,355 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 41,408 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up about 5.2% of Rakuten Securities Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Rakuten Securities Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,074,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. NBC Securities Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.2% in the 4th quarter. NBC Securities Inc. now owns 58,569 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,332,000 after buying an additional 1,836 shares in the last quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 99.0% during the fourth quarter. Lebenthal Global Advisors LLC now owns 16,444 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,147,000 after purchasing an additional 8,182 shares in the last quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,996 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,251,000 after buying an additional 544 shares in the last quarter. First Financial Group Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. First Financial Group Corp now owns 2,622 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $821,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Finally, Members Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. Members Wealth LLC now owns 3,185 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,061,000 after purchasing an additional 72 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is rolling out Gemini-powered Android features that let AI understand screen context and complete multi-step tasks, strengthening its AI platform and expanding practical use cases across its ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Google is bringing “agentic” AI, Gemini in Chrome, and new AI-native “Googlebooks” laptops to market, signaling a broader product cycle that could support future revenue growth and keep Alphabet competitive with Apple and other tech giants.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s partnership with Affirm and Klarna to embed pay-over-time options into Gemini and Google Search could boost commerce activity, improve conversion rates, and make Google Pay more valuable to consumers and merchants.
• Positive Sentiment: Google-backed Isomorphic Labs raised $2.1 billion to scale AI-driven drug discovery, underscoring investor enthusiasm for Alphabet’s broader AI ecosystem and the value of its venture investments.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is exploring first-ever yen bond financing to fund AI infrastructure suggest the company is willing to invest aggressively in compute capacity, which investors may view as necessary to defend and extend its AI lead.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Alphabet nearing Nvidia in market value and being at the center of the AI boom highlights strong momentum, but these are more market narratives than immediate fundamental catalysts.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s heavier AI spending and new debt issuance may pressure near-term margins and raise concerns that the company is trading balance-sheet strength for a more capital-intensive growth strategy.
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s robotaxi recall over a self-driving software issue is a reminder that Alphabet’s broader “Other Bets” businesses still carry operational and regulatory execution risks.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $371.00, for a total value of $37,842.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,621 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,908,391. The trade was a 0.54% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 158,553 shares of company stock valued at $47,951,856 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on GOOGL. Loop Capital upped their price objective on Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Argus boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their target price on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $407.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $387.35 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $323.56 and a 200-day moving average of $314.66. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $156.16 and a 52 week high of $402.00. The stock has a market cap of $4.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

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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