GSA Capital Partners LLP Cuts Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• GSA Capital Partners cut its Alphabet stake by 43% in the second quarter, selling 7,617 shares and retaining 10,109 shares valued at approximately $3.6 million.
• Other major institutions, including Vanguard, State Street and Geode Capital, increased their Alphabet holdings; institutional investors collectively own about 40% of the stock.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive, with a consensus “Buy” rating and an average price target of $420.19. Alphabet also reported quarterly revenue above estimates, though regulatory and legal risks remain concerns.

GSA Capital Partners LLP reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 43.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 10,109 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 7,617 shares during the quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP's holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,613,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after buying an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% in the 4th quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after buying an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. CICC Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. President Capital upped their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Barclays reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $425.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Friday, July 10th. Finally, Dbs Bank boosted their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $420.19.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud and AI remain the main growth drivers. Rising Cloud revenue, AI adoption and a reported $514 billion backlog strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position against Microsoft and Amazon, although capacity constraints could limit near-term execution. Rising Cloud Revenue Strengthens Alphabet Against MSFT & AMZN
• Positive Sentiment: New Gemini and AI Mode features could increase user engagement and monetization. Google is expanding AI Mode to track flight prices and assist with hotel bookings, while reviews of its personal-intelligence tools suggest broader consumer adoption. Employees are also reportedly testing a next-generation Gemini Flash model. Google's AI Mode can now track flight prices, help book hotels, and more
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment and technical momentum remain favorable. Brokerages maintain an average “Buy” recommendation, while technical commentary points to support above approximately $340. Alphabet’s valuation, margins and cash generation are viewed as attractive relative to many AI peers. Alphabet Receives Average Recommendation of Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s custom-chip strategy is creating demand for AI infrastructure. Marvell’s large Google-related AI-chip opportunity highlights Alphabet’s willingness to invest in proprietary computing capacity, potentially supporting long-term performance and reducing reliance on outside suppliers. Marvell’s Google AI-chip opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Google changed its European spam and site-reputation policy. The adjustment is intended to address European Commission concerns and reduce the risk of an antitrust fine, but it may affect how Google ranks publisher content and reflects ongoing regulatory pressure. Google changes spam policy in EU to avert antitrust fine
• Negative Sentiment: Legal risks continue to weigh on the investment case. Multiple law firms announced securities-fraud investigations, while Google agreed to a $353 million settlement with UK app developers. These announcements do not establish wrongdoing but could create financial and reputational costs. Google agrees to settle UK app developers’ lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: The FTC is reportedly considering action involving YouTube. The investigation concerns account suspensions and possible consumer-protection violations, adding another regulatory overhang for Alphabet. US FTC probes YouTube over social media policies

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 451,843 shares of company stock worth $12,343,852 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.7%

Alphabet stock opened at $346.59 on Friday. 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 business's 50-day simple moving average is $349.62 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $341.74. The company has a market cap of $4.24 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.41, a PEG ratio of 0.96 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates 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 analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 given a $0.22 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 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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