Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Acquired by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Key Points

• Rakuten Investment Management increased its Alphabet stake by 10.8% in the third quarter, adding 120,600 shares to hold 1.24 million shares valued at about $422.9 million.
• Analysts remain broadly positive, with a consensus Buy rating and a $412.51 average price target, though several firms recently lowered their targets.
• Alphabet reported quarterly EPS of $2.12, below the $3.02 consensus, and revenue of $127.58 billion, slightly under expectations. It also announced a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 10.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,240,497 shares of the information services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 120,600 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.0% of Rakuten Investment Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $422,910,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Titleist Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 6.4% during the third quarter. Titleist Asset Management LLC now owns 34,613 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,909,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096 shares during the period. Elefante Mark B raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.5% in the second quarter. Elefante Mark B now owns 43,733 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $15,629,000 after purchasing an additional 1,897 shares during the period. Nwam LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 19.6% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 49,128 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $14,127,000 after purchasing an additional 8,055 shares during the period. WCM Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 287.4% during the 1st quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC now owns 3,886 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,063,000 after buying an additional 2,883 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Spinnaker Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 51.4% during the 2nd quarter. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC now owns 4,759 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,701,000 after buying an additional 1,616 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada cut their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Citigroup dropped their price objective on Alphabet from $447.00 to $375.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, October 30th. UBS Group set a $332.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Barclays reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $405.00 target price (down from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Finally, Susquehanna reduced their target price on Alphabet from $460.00 to $400.00 and set a "positive" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, October 29th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $412.51.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $298.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 15.59, a PEG ratio of 0.88 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $270.70 and a fifty-two week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a quick ratio of 2.69 and a current ratio of 2.79. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $329.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $338.21.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 14th. Investors of record on Monday, December 7th will be issued a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 7th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 4.59%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the director directly owned 19,076 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $6,494,424.20. This trade represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders sold a total of 247 shares of company stock valued at $79,238 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Investors following GOOGL have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s reported departure has put a spotlight on alternatives to Nvidia. Alphabet’s expanding TPU business could help it compete for AI workloads and gain market share, while its Google Cloud infrastructure also uses AMD processors. Why Alphabet Stock Was Moving Higher Today
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that heavy AI data-center spending could weigh on cash flow, even as the underlying cloud and advertising businesses remain attractive. This could limit near-term enthusiasm if returns on the investment take time to materialize. Alphabet: Punished For Its Cash Flow, Not Its Business
• Negative Sentiment: A lawsuit against Google and other AI developers seeks to halt frontier AI development, creating potential regulatory and operational uncertainty. Separately, securities class actions allege investors were misled about Gemini development and disclosures; the allegations are not proven, but add legal overhang. Lawsuit Seeks to Halt Frontier AI Development

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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