Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Position Cut by Assenagon Asset Management S.A.

Key Points

• Assenagon Asset Management S.A. cut its Alphabet stake by 23.7% in Q1, selling 587,341 shares and leaving it with 1.89 million shares valued at about $542.3 million.
• Alphabet has been getting a boost from Dow Jones Industrial Average inclusion, which sparked buying interest and helped lift the stock, even as investors remain focused on AI-related growth and spending concerns.
• Wall Street remains broadly positive: Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating with a $445 price target, while Alphabet also reported strong quarterly results and recently raised its dividend to $0.22 per share.

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 23.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,885,894 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 587,341 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 0.8% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $542,308,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 10.4% during the 1st quarter. Consilium Wealth Advisory LLC now owns 25,675 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $7,383,000 after acquiring an additional 2,427 shares in the last quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% in the first quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC now owns 32,696 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,402,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares in the last quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.9% in the first quarter. Focused Wealth Management Inc now owns 48,537 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $13,957,000 after purchasing an additional 4,371 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% during the first quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 12,778 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $3,674,000 after purchasing an additional 366 shares during the period. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the first quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 14,246 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $4,097,000 after purchasing an additional 249 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet officially joined the Dow Jones Industrial Average, replacing Verizon, which has sparked broad investor buying and index-fund demand. Reuters: Alphabet debuts in Dow Jones Industrial Average as index tilts toward tech
• Positive Sentiment: Several reports note Alphabet’s stock rose on the Dow debut, reflecting renewed investor enthusiasm and momentum around the company’s large-cap tech and AI position. CNBC: Alphabet stock pops 4% on Dow debut, but the tech giant faces major AI questions
• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies reiterated a Buy rating on Alphabet with a $445 price target, suggesting Wall Street still sees meaningful upside despite the recent pullback. Yahoo Finance: Jefferies Maintain a Buy Rating on Alphabet (GOOGL)
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also gained attention from fresh coverage highlighting its cloud and AI partnerships, including Google Cloud’s collaboration with the Philippine government on AI agents for public services. Yahoo Finance: Alphabet’s Google Cloud Partners with Philippine Government to Deploy AI Agents in Public Services
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also weighing concerns that strong AI demand is being constrained by limited compute capacity, which may cap near-term growth even as demand remains high. Reuters: Google limits Meta's use of its Gemini AI models, FT reports
• Negative Sentiment: Some articles point out that Alphabet has been under pressure recently due to AI-spending concerns and broader weakness in big tech, so the Dow inclusion may be helping offset a weak monthly trend. CNBC: Alphabet stock pops 4% on Dow debut, but the tech giant faces major AI questions

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. KeyCorp restated an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and issued a $435.00 price objective (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. 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 company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total value of $153,432.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold a total of 151,972 shares of company stock valued at $5,016,958 over the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 4.8%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $353.55 on Tuesday. 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 Inc. has a 12 month low of $172.77 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $369.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $333.27.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm 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%. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date was 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 dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 6.71%.

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.

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