Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by XML Financial LLC

Key Points

• XML Financial reduced its Alphabet stake by 6.3% in the third quarter, selling 2,276 shares and ending the period with 34,115 shares valued at $11.7 million.
• Alphabet’s latest quarterly results missed analyst expectations: earnings per share were $2.12 versus a $3.02 consensus, while revenue of $127.58 billion was slightly below estimates.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus rating of Buy and an average price target of $412.51; the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.

XML Financial LLC cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 6.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,115 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 2,276 shares during the quarter. XML Financial LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $11,738,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 238,977,259 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $85,403,303,000 after purchasing an additional 12,718,127 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 90.9% during the 1st quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,040,373 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,900,078,000 after acquiring an additional 8,112,680 shares during the period. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,612,704,000. Amundi increased its stake in Alphabet by 12.7% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 31,745,979 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $9,128,850,000 after acquiring an additional 3,574,810 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Topco LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $1,058,385,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Wall Street Zen lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Roth Capital reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $440.00 target price (up from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $375.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $412.51.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total value of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 19,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,494,424.20. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 247 shares of company stock valued at $79,238 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $287.38 on Wednesday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $330.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $338.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 2.79. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $270.70 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $3.53 trillion, a PE ratio of 15.00, a PEG ratio of 0.87 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.02 by ($0.90). Alphabet had a net margin of 50.03% and a return on equity of 43.33%. The company had revenue of $127.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $127.96 billion. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.81 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 7th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 4.59%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Anthropic investment and cloud exposure: Google plans to invest $10 billion in Anthropic at its IPO, adding to Alphabet’s existing stake. Anthropic also has sizable Google Cloud commitments, potentially supporting cloud revenue through computing and marketplace services. Article: Anthropic's Trillion-Dollar IPO Could Give Cloud Giants a Double Win
• Positive Sentiment: AI chips and cloud growth: Google introduced two specialized TPU variants for AI workloads, a move that could reduce reliance on outside chips and broaden Google Cloud’s appeal. Separate coverage highlighted strong Cloud revenue and improved operating margins. Article: Google broadens its AI hardware portfolio Article: Sundar Pichai Just Delivered Stunning News About Google Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Pixel Tag launch: Google began selling its $30 Android-compatible item tracker, expanding its consumer hardware lineup, though the immediate financial impact is unclear. Article: Pixel Tag is now available
• Negative Sentiment: AI spending and monetization concerns: Coverage framed accelerating AI investment as a risk if returns do not justify the cost. JPMorgan also removed Alphabet from its analyst focus list, citing slower AI-search monetization and substantial infrastructure spending, while retaining an Overweight rating. Article: Alphabet investors face a new reality as Google's AI spending accelerates Article: JPMorgan Just Removed Alphabet From Its Analyst Focus List
• Negative Sentiment: Securities lawsuit: Multiple law firms publicized a pending class action alleging misrepresentations about the Gemini 3.5 Pro launch timeline. Investors have until around Dec. 1 to seek lead-plaintiff status; the allegations remain claims, not findings of liability. Article: Investors Have Opportunity to Lead Alphabet Securities Fraud Lawsuit

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc. is a technology holding company whose largest business is Google. Founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, Google became part of Alphabet when the company reorganized its businesses under the holding-company structure in 2015. Google's products and services include Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Cloud. The company also generates revenue from digital advertising and offers devices, subscriptions and artificial intelligence products and services.

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