Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI trimmed its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Free Report) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 708,271 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 12,061 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.8% of Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $243,702,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. State Street Corp boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 238,977,259 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,403,303,000 after purchasing an additional 12,718,127 shares during the period. Amundi boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in the second quarter. Amundi now owns 33,203,350 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,865,809,000 after buying an additional 1,457,371 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,724,321 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,334,186,000 after buying an additional 1,631,721 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% in the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 17,079,800 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,911,467,000 after buying an additional 1,139,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 90.9% in the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,040,373 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,900,078,000 after buying an additional 8,112,680 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.
Insider Activity at Alphabet
In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35. Following the sale, the director directly owned 19,076 shares in the company, valued at $6,494,424.20. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders sold 247 shares of company stock worth $79,238 over the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group set a $332.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Benchmark reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 1st. DA Davidson lowered their price target on shares of Alphabet from $350.00 to $300.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. Moffett Nathanson set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $410.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $410.46.
Read Our Latest Analysis on Alphabet
Key Stories Impacting Alphabet
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue more than doubled year over year to approximately $30.7 billion, while its backlog reached $561 billion. The results support Alphabet’s position as a major beneficiary of enterprise AI demand. Alphabet’s Cloud Business Just Doubled
- Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain constructive after the selloff. Guggenheim and Needham reaffirmed “buy” ratings with $450 targets, while Citigroup and Wells Fargo retained bullish ratings and projected substantial upside despite lowering their targets.
- Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI ecosystem could gain from rising demand for cloud capacity and specialized chips. Waymo is also expanding internationally through a partnership with Toyota, although the business remains small relative to Alphabet’s core operations. Waymo taps Toyota to supply robotaxis
- Neutral Sentiment: Multiple securities law firms publicized class-action lawsuits and lead-plaintiff deadlines tied to alleged disclosures about Alphabet’s Gemini AI development. These notices add headline risk, but their direct financial impact remains uncertain.
- Negative Sentiment: Alphabet reported adjusted earnings of $2.12 per share, below consensus near $2.94-$3.02, while revenue of $127.6 billion also missed expectations. Search and other revenue grew about 12% to roughly $63 billion, but fell short of forecasts, reinforcing fears that AI-generated answers and “AI mode” searches may monetize less effectively than traditional Search.
- Negative Sentiment: AI infrastructure spending caused free cash flow to remain negative by roughly $9.1 billion for a second consecutive quarter. Investors are questioning whether the enormous capital outlays will produce adequate returns and whether Alphabet may need additional debt or equity financing.
- Negative Sentiment: An unrealized loss on Alphabet’s SpaceX investment reduced quarterly earnings by approximately $0.55 per share, while an EU antitrust fine further pressured results. Analysts including RBC, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Wedbush, KeyCorp and Cantor Fitzgerald lowered price targets, even though most maintained positive ratings.
Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%
GOOGL opened at $279.84 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $339.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $340.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The stock has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a P/E ratio of 14.61, a P/E/G ratio of 0.82 and a beta of 1.21. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $270.70 and a 12 month high of $408.61.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by ($0.90). Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. The business had revenue of $127.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $127.96 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.05 earnings per share for the current year.
Alphabet Company Profile
Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known for its Google subsidiary. Google operates a global internet-services business centered on online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a broad range of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.
Google Cloud provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software services to businesses, governments, and other organizations. Alphabet also develops consumer hardware, including Pixel devices and products for connected homes, while investing in emerging businesses through its “Other Bets” segment, including autonomous transportation and life sciences initiatives.
Alphabet was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that made Google a subsidiary and provided a separate structure for its expanding portfolio of businesses.
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