Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Acquired by Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI

Key Points

• Citizens Financial Group increased its Alphabet stake by 5.5% in the second quarter, adding 37,771 shares for a total of 720,332 shares valued at approximately $257.4 million. Institutional investors and hedge funds collectively own 40.03% of Alphabet.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with six Strong Buy and 44 Buy ratings; Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $420.19.
• Alphabet reported quarterly revenue of $119.8 billion and EPS of $9.11, beating consensus estimates, and declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share. Meanwhile, insiders have sold 451,925 shares worth about $12.4 million over the past 90 days.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 5.5% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 720,332 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 37,771 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for 3.1% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI's portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI's holdings in Alphabet were worth $257,425,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% during the 1st quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $137,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $840,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $744,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evansbrook LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 9,522 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,738,000 after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This trade represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. Arete Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $405.00 to $425.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, July 10th. HSBC restated a "buy" rating and issued a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Dbs Bank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $411.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $420.19.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on Alphabet’s valuation and growth outlook. Citizens analyst Andrew Boone expects the stock to reach a new record high over the next 12 months, while other commentary highlights strong cloud momentum and argues that market concerns about Alphabet may be excessive. Wall Street analyst sets Google price target One Mag 7 Stock to Watch
• Positive Sentiment: Google- and Meta-backed Jio Platforms received approval for an Indian IPO. The listing could provide Alphabet with a potential valuation catalyst for its investment and increase visibility into the value of the stake. Jio Platforms IPO approval
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is balancing record cloud growth against historically high AI-related capital spending. Investors are focused on whether rising infrastructure costs will generate sufficient future revenue and margins compared with Amazon’s spending strategy. Alphabet and Amazon AI capital spending
• Neutral Sentiment: Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares for approximately $27,692, reducing her direct holdings by 0.43%. The relatively small transaction is unlikely to materially change the investment case, but it may attract limited attention amid the stock’s recent volatility. Alphabet insider transaction filing
• Negative Sentiment: Fresh scrutiny of Google’s £260 million U.K. app-store settlement added to regulatory pressure. Reports also say Google changed European search rules to avoid a potentially much larger EU revenue penalty, though the concessions could weaken its search economics and competitive position. Google U.K. app-store settlement Google European search rules
• Negative Sentiment: Investors continue to debate whether Meta’s AI products could challenge Google Search and whether Alphabet’s AI investment will pressure returns before producing meaningful new revenue. Concerns about talent departures and the uncertain reception for future Gemini releases are also weighing on sentiment. Meta AI competition with Google Search

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $339.35 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $349.41 and a two-hundred day moving average of $342.01. The company has a market capitalization of $4.15 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.04, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $206.20 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The business had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Alphabet Company 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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