Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Sold by Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI

Key Points

• Citizens Financial Group reduced its Alphabet stake by 1.7% in the third quarter, selling 12,061 shares and retaining 708,271 shares valued at approximately $243.7 million. Institutional investors collectively own 40.03% of Alphabet.
• Alphabet reported quarterly adjusted EPS of $2.12 and revenue of $127.6 billion, both below analyst expectations. Concerns include heavy AI infrastructure spending, negative free cash flow and uncertainty over monetizing AI-powered search.
• Despite the earnings miss and recent price-target cuts, analysts maintain an overall “Buy” consensus with an average target of $410.46. Google Cloud revenue more than doubled year over year to about $30.7 billion, supporting the company’s AI growth outlook.

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI reduced its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 708,271 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 12,061 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.8% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI's holdings in Alphabet were worth $243,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC raised 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 during the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the last quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $744,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evansbrook LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.3% during the first quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 9,522 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,738,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue more than doubled year over year to approximately $30.7 billion, while its backlog reached $561 billion. The results support Alphabet’s position as a major beneficiary of enterprise AI demand. Alphabet's Cloud Business Just Doubled
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain constructive after the selloff. Guggenheim and Needham reaffirmed “buy” ratings with $450 targets, while Citigroup and Wells Fargo retained bullish ratings and projected substantial upside despite lowering their targets.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI ecosystem could gain from rising demand for cloud capacity and specialized chips. Waymo is also expanding internationally through a partnership with Toyota, although the business remains small relative to Alphabet’s core operations. Waymo taps Toyota to supply robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple securities law firms publicized class-action lawsuits and lead-plaintiff deadlines tied to alleged disclosures about Alphabet’s Gemini AI development. These notices add headline risk, but their direct financial impact remains uncertain.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet reported adjusted earnings of $2.12 per share, below consensus near $2.94-$3.02, while revenue of $127.6 billion also missed expectations. Search and other revenue grew about 12% to roughly $63 billion, but fell short of forecasts, reinforcing fears that AI-generated answers and “AI mode” searches may monetize less effectively than traditional Search.
• Negative Sentiment: AI infrastructure spending caused free cash flow to remain negative by roughly $9.1 billion for a second consecutive quarter. Investors are questioning whether the enormous capital outlays will produce adequate returns and whether Alphabet may need additional debt or equity financing.
• Negative Sentiment: An unrealized loss on Alphabet’s SpaceX investment reduced quarterly earnings by approximately $0.55 per share, while an EU antitrust fine further pressured results. Analysts including RBC, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Wedbush, KeyCorp and Cantor Fitzgerald lowered price targets, even though most maintained positive ratings.

Insider Activity

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 transaction of $28,257.35. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly 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 link. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 247 shares of company stock worth $79,238. 11.61% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $279.84 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 14.61, a PEG ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $270.70 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $339.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $340.17.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.02 by ($0.90). Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. The company had revenue of $127.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $127.96 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.05 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $375.00 price target (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday. KeyCorp cut their target price on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $385.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Citizens Jmp lowered shares of Alphabet from a "market outperform" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $380.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Moffett Nathanson set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $410.46.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known for its Google subsidiary. Google operates a global internet-services business centered on online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a broad range of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

Google Cloud provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software services to businesses, governments, and other organizations. Alphabet also develops consumer hardware, including Pixel devices and products for connected homes, while investing in emerging businesses through its “Other Bets” segment, including autonomous transportation and life sciences initiatives.

Alphabet was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that made Google a subsidiary and provided a separate structure for its expanding portfolio of businesses.

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