Securian Asset Management Inc. Reduces Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Securian Asset Management cut its Alphabet stake by 43.8% in the fourth quarter, selling 123,526 shares and leaving it with 158,203 shares valued at about $49.5 million.
• Institutional interest in Alphabet remains broad, with hedge funds and other investors still owning about 40.03% of the company’s stock, while several firms made only small additions to their positions.
• Alphabet continues to draw bullish attention from analysts and business developments, including a stronger Google Cloud outlook, a Blackstone data center partnership, and multiple buy ratings with a consensus “Moderate Buy” target of $412.94.

Securian Asset Management Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 43.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 158,203 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 123,526 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.9% of Securian Asset Management Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th biggest holding. Securian Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $49,518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Symmetry Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,476,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Members Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,014,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,489,000 after purchasing an additional 31 shares during the last quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $978,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,274,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud reported standout Q1’26 results, with revenue up 63% to $20 billion, a 32.9% margin, and a backlog that reached $462 billion, suggesting strong demand and improving profitability. GOOGL Rides on Surging Google Cloud Demand: More Upside Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and Blackstone announced a partnership to build 500MW of U.S. data center capacity by 2027, underscoring Alphabet’s push to monetize TPU-powered AI compute as a service. Google and Blackstone partner on TPU-powered data centre capacity
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s buy rating was reaffirmed by Barclays, adding to the bullish analyst tone around the stock. Alphabet Class A (GOOGL) Gets a Buy from Cantor Fitzgerald
• Positive Sentiment: Reuters reported that EQT partnered with Google Cloud to accelerate AI adoption across more than 300 portfolio companies, reinforcing Alphabet’s enterprise AI momentum. Private equity firm EQT partners with Google Cloud for AI rollout
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo continued expanding its robotaxi fleet with lower-cost vehicles and new rider access, which supports Alphabet’s optionality in autonomous driving but is not an immediate earnings driver. Waymo opens Ojai robotaxis to select riders as company aims to lower cost of fleet expansion
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet is facing fresh reputational and legal pressure after U.S. prosecutors charged a Google engineer in a Polymarket insider-trading case, and an Indian court ruling raised trademark-related ad risk. Indian court ruling on Google keyword ads could reshape online advertising
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary also suggested Alphabet could face pressure as AI rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic raise larger funding war chests, keeping competition concerns in focus. Anthropic Leapfrogs OpenAI In Valuation. But Here's One Thing To Know.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Loop Capital raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Daiwa Securities Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Roth Mkm reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $412.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.5%

Alphabet stock opened at $380.34 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.01, a P/E/G ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $345.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $324.91.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total transaction of $348,232.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,581 shares in the company, valued at $1,187,638.65. The trade was a 22.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 955 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total transaction of $284,590.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,955,564. This trade represents a 8.78% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

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.

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