Manning & Napier Advisors LLC Sells 253,771 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Manning & Napier Advisors reduced its Alphabet stake by 26% in the fourth quarter, selling 253,771 shares and leaving it with 724,054 shares worth about $227.2 million. Alphabet remains a significant holding for the firm, making up 2.9% of its portfolio.
• Wall Street sentiment on Alphabet remains positive, with multiple analysts raising price targets and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus rating. The average target price now stands at $412.65.
• Alphabet continues to lean into AI and ad monetization, including testing Gemini-powered Search ads and expanding AI infrastructure, while also reporting strong quarterly results and a small dividend increase to $0.22 per share.

Manning & Napier Advisors LLC cut its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 26.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 724,054 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 253,771 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.9% of Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC's holdings in Alphabet were worth $227,244,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Kentucky Trust Co lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $63,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Oppenheimer upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Truist Financial upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $415.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $412.65.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is testing Gemini-powered Search ads, including conversational and contextual ad formats that could improve monetization and help offset concerns that AI search may weaken its core advertising model.
• Positive Sentiment: Google and CrowdStrike helped take down a botnet targeting open-source software developers, reinforcing Alphabet’s cybersecurity capabilities and its role in defending the broader internet ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports around Google I/O and Alphabet’s broader AI lineup, including new Gemini features and AI search tools, suggest the company is still aggressively innovating to defend its leadership in search and advertising.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s $15 billion Missouri AI data hub investment highlights long-term infrastructure spending to support AI growth, but the near-term stock impact is likely limited.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet has drawn market focus from traders and analysts, with prediction-market activity suggesting shares may stay near current levels in the short term.
• Negative Sentiment: DuckDuckGo reported rising installs as some users respond negatively to Google’s AI Search overhaul, raising investor concerns that the redesign could push a portion of users toward competitors.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged that one Google AI Search result was “more opinionated than it should be,” underscoring the risk of AI accuracy issues and potential user trust problems.
• Negative Sentiment: Federal prosecutors charged a Google employee with insider trading tied to Polymarket bets, creating a reputational overhang even though the case appears to involve an individual employee rather than core business operations.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company'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 value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $388.83 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $162.00 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92. The company has a market capitalization of $4.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.66, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $342.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $323.73.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Alphabet 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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