Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s 10th Largest Position

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17,950.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 879,065 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 874,195 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.9% of Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Rakuten Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $275,640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Symmetry Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,476,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Members Trust Co increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,489,000 after buying an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% in the fourth quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $978,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,274,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction of $38,862.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,721 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 159,466 shares of company stock valued at $6,957,543 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand its AI capabilities, reinforcing Alphabet’s cloud momentum and potential enterprise revenue growth. HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google released Android 17 and Wear OS 7, while also adding new Gemini AI features and Pixel device upgrades, highlighting continued product innovation and deeper AI integration across its ecosystem. Android 17 launches with new multitasking tools as Google expands Gemini features
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud also landed a strategic partnership with Ineffable Intelligence, another sign that enterprises and AI startups are choosing Alphabet’s infrastructure for frontier AI development. Ineffable Intelligence Selects Google Cloud To Power Its Superintelligence Mission
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent commentary pieces continued to frame Alphabet as a favorite large-cap AI name and a possible long-term winner, which may be supporting investor sentiment but does not reflect a new fundamental announcement. Alphabet: Still A Big Tech Pick To ‘Buy’ Now
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s disclosure about Chinese-linked hackers targeting research facilities underscores its cybersecurity and threat-detection role, but the story is more about security awareness than a direct business driver. Chinese-linked hackers targeted U.S.,Canadian research facilities for a year, Google says
• Negative Sentiment: A separate report noted a small student walkout and boos during CEO Sundar Pichai’s Stanford commencement appearance, which is unlikely to affect fundamentals but adds a minor reputational headwind. Sundar Pichai faces boos, walkout at Stanford graduation ceremony over Google’s Israel, ICE ties

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Phillip Securities increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 15th. Citigroup reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. CICC Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, China Renaissance increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $485.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

GOOGL stock opened at $373.25 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $363.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $331.04. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.52 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $162.00 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.