Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. Decreases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb cut its Alphabet stake by 2.6% in the first quarter, selling 57,177 shares. Alphabet remains the firm’s largest holding, representing 10.1% of its portfolio and valued at approximately $608.95 million.
• Alphabet reported quarterly results well above expectations, with $9.11 in earnings per share versus a $2.89 estimate and $119.8 billion in revenue. Analysts maintain a broadly positive view, with an average “Buy” rating and a $419.86 price target.
• Despite strong fundamentals and AI opportunities, Alphabet faces risks from an AI leadership reshuffle, senior researcher departures, delays to its latest Gemini release and a U.K. advertiser lawsuit seeking roughly $6.7 billion.

Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P. cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,117,644 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 57,177 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 10.1% of Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.'s portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Ruane Cunniff & Goldfarb L.P.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $608,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $277,696,000 after buying an additional 93,293 shares in the last quarter. PFG Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.6% during the first quarter. PFG Investments LLC now owns 89,299 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $25,679,000 after acquiring an additional 2,269 shares in the last quarter. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,902,000. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co grew its stake in Alphabet by 17.1% in the fourth quarter. W.G. Shaheen & Associates DBA Whitney & Co now owns 118,966 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $37,236,000 after acquiring an additional 17,415 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 29.8% in the fourth quarter. Victory Financial Group LLC now owns 17,632 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,519,000 after acquiring an additional 4,048 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google is reportedly discussing a potential deal valued at more than $1.5 billion with AI coding-agent startup Mechanize. The arrangement could provide access to specialized talent and technology in a rapidly expanding AI application market. Google is in talks for a $1.5 billion-plus deal with AI coding agent startup Mechanize
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to benefit from strong fundamentals and AI-related growth opportunities, including its cloud business, advertising franchise and direct sales of custom Tensor Processing Units. Analysts remain broadly optimistic about the stock’s long-term growth prospects. Is Alphabet a Solid Growth Stock?
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet-owned Waymo opened its Dallas robotaxi service to all residents and visitors, supporting the company’s effort to scale autonomous-driving operations. Waymo opens up robotaxi service in Dallas to everyone
• Neutral Sentiment: Demis Hassabis is moving from leading Google DeepMind into an Alphabet chief scientist role focused on long-term research and AI safety. Management described the move as a leadership realignment, but investors are weighing whether it could disrupt near-term product execution. Google shakes up AI leadership as DeepMind chief shifts role
• Negative Sentiment: Longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean and three other senior AI researchers are leaving Google to launch Discovery Loop, an AI startup focused on automated research and drug design. The departures intensify concerns over the loss of influential technical talent during the AI race. Google chief scientist Jeff Dean leaving in AI reshuffle
• Negative Sentiment: The leadership overhaul comes while Google’s latest flagship Gemini release remains delayed, increasing investor anxiety about product momentum and competitive positioning. Why is Alphabet stock falling?
• Negative Sentiment: A U.K. tribunal allowed a roughly $6.7 billion advertiser class action to proceed, adding to Alphabet’s regulatory and legal exposure in its search and advertising businesses. UK Tribunal Rejects Google Bid to Block Advertiser Class Action

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 4.0%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $362.43 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.43 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.20, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $193.67 and a twelve month high of $408.61. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $356.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $340.12. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm 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 of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. Wall Street Zen lowered Alphabet from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Susquehanna reissued a "positive" rating and set a $460.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson set a $350.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six 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. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $419.86.

About Alphabet

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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding GOOGL? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source