Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by DNB Asset Management AS

Key Points

• DNB Asset Management AS cut its Alphabet stake by 20.2% in the fourth quarter, selling 1.25 million shares but still holding 4.94 million shares valued at about $1.55 billion. Alphabet remains its third-largest position and makes up 5.4% of the fund’s holdings.
• Alphabet recently reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $5.11 versus an expected $2.64 and revenue of $109.9 billion, while also raising its quarterly dividend from $0.21 to $0.22 per share.
• Analysts remain broadly upbeat on GOOGL, with several firms raising price targets and the stock carrying a consensus rating of Moderate Buy; however, investor sentiment is tempered by concerns over Alphabet’s massive $84.75 billion AI-focused equity raise and new UK regulatory requirements on Google Search.

DNB Asset Management AS reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 20.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,941,049 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 1,247,597 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 5.4% of DNB Asset Management AS's holdings, making the stock its 3rd largest position. DNB Asset Management AS's holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,546,548,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co lifted its stake in Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 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 transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock valued at $17,282,549. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s reported $10 billion commitment to Alphabet’s capital raise is a strong vote of confidence in the company’s AI and cloud strategy, helping validate the long-term investment case. Alphabet plans to raise $80 billion for AI goals, Berkshire to invest $10 billion
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street continues to frame Alphabet as a major AI beneficiary, with analysts reaffirming bullish price targets and noting rising demand for Google Cloud and AI infrastructure. Alphabet had its "buy" rating reaffirmed by Needham & Company LLC
• Neutral Sentiment: Lovable’s expanded multi-year Google Cloud deal highlights ongoing customer demand for Alphabet’s cloud services, but it is a modest business development rather than a major near-term catalyst. Lovable signs multi-year deal with Google Cloud to up usage 5x, source says
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage around the AI boom and Alphabet’s expanding role in the sector supports the growth narrative, but much of it is sentiment-driven rather than a direct earnings update. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s massive $84.75 billion equity raise is stirring dilution concerns and signaling that AI infrastructure spending will remain extremely capital intensive, which has weighed on the stock. Alphabet to raise $84.75 billion in upsized equity offering to fund AI ambitions
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators imposed new conduct requirements on Google Search, including giving publishers more control over AI use of their content, adding a fresh regulatory overhang for Alphabet’s search and AI businesses. UK regulator enforces new competition requirements for Google search

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Guggenheim reiterated a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $393.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, May 21st. China Renaissance increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. 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 data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $413.04.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.8%

Alphabet stock opened at $358.99 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $162.00 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The company's 50-day moving average price is $349.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $326.85. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 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:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.28 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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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