Perpetual Ltd Sells 55,135 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Perpetual Ltd cut its Alphabet stake by 15.1% in Q4, selling 55,135 shares and retaining 310,458 shares worth about $97.17 million, representing roughly 1.4% of Perpetual’s holdings and its 24th-largest position.
• Insider selling has been sizable: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares for about $10.0 million, and insiders disposed of 2,068,744 shares totaling roughly $104.5 million over the past three months.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive—MarketBeat reports a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $366.76 and the majority of analysts rating GOOGL as Buy or Strong Buy.

Perpetual Ltd lowered its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 15.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 310,458 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 55,135 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.4% of Perpetual Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 24th biggest position. Perpetual Ltd's holdings in Alphabet were worth $97,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $4,338,397,000. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,333,076,000 after buying an additional 6,874,381 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 23,402.1% in the third quarter. Mizuho Markets Cayman LP now owns 6,118,547 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,487,419,000 after buying an additional 6,092,513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coatue Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 259.1% in the third quarter. Coatue Management LLC now owns 7,221,115 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,755,453,000 after buying an additional 5,210,434 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an "overweight" rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, April 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $279.00 to $357.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $366.76.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,405,091.71. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,068,744 shares of company stock valued at $104,505,914 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company's stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Broadcom extended a multi‑year agreement with Google to supply chips for TPUs through 2031, which UBS says eases investor concerns about Google's chip sourcing and supports near‑term AI infrastructure demand. Broadcom deal with Google signals stronger AI demand but long-term risks remain: UBS
• Positive Sentiment: Favorable AI deal coverage (Anthropic/TPU opportunity) and bullish commentary position Alphabet as an AI‑infrastructure play, reinforcing upside expectations for revenue from cloud and TPU sales. Catalyst Alert: Anthropic Deal Makes Alphabet Stock a Must-Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Large investor activity: Stanley Druckenmiller materially increased his Alphabet stake last quarter, a high‑profile buy that can lift sentiment among momentum and institutional investors. Stanley Druckenmiller Made 1 Huge Bet That Still Looks Attractive Today and Cut 2 Top Positions
• Positive Sentiment: Operational/strategy tailwinds: Google is funding nationwide AI training for manufacturing workers, supporting enterprise adoption of its AI stack and strengthening longer‑term demand for cloud/AI services. Google partners on AI training for thousands of American manufacturing workers
• Positive Sentiment: Market sentiment and upgrades: Zacks and other outlets highlight positive analyst momentum (Zacks Rank upgrade and positive writeups), which supports buying interest today. What Makes Alphabet (GOOGL) a New Buy Stock
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst price‑target moves are mixed: several firms reaffirm or trim targets (Citizens/JMP reaffirmed outperform at $385; Stifel trimmed its target slightly but stayed Buy; Wolfe cut to $360, while some outlets show higher targets), leaving a range of expectations for future upside. Stifel adjusts price target on Alphabet Price Target Raised to $420
• Neutral Sentiment: Startups and ecosystem activity (e.g., Primepoint's $10M seed round led by AI veterans) show continued AI ecosystem growth but have indirect impact on Alphabet's near‑term fundamentals. Primepoint closes $10M seed round
• Neutral Sentiment: Long‑term technology pivots (quantum computing coverage) are discussed as multi‑year catalysts; these are strategic positives but unlikely to move near‑term earnings. Quantum Computing Stocks: Is Google's Tech Roadmap Changing?
• Negative Sentiment: Ad‑revenue competition: eMarketer/WSJ reports project Meta overtaking Google as the top global digital‑ad revenue company by end‑2026, a key long‑term risk for Google’s core search/ad margin profile. Meta poised to surpass Google in digital ad revenue for first time

Alphabet Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of GOOGL opened at $321.39 on Tuesday. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $306.41 and its 200 day simple moving average is $299.57. The company has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.95 and a beta of 1.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $146.10 and a 1-year high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

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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