Rakuten Securities Inc. Buys 41,408 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 416.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 51,355 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 41,408 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 5.2% of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $16,074,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY lifted its position in Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $371.00, for a total transaction of $37,842.00. Following the sale, the director owned 18,621 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,908,391. This represents a 0.54% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $14,293,309.12. The trade was a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 158,553 shares of company stock valued at $47,951,856. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Barclays reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $405.00 target price (up from $360.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Moffett Nathanson upped their target price on Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC boosted their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $407.86.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is rolling out Gemini-powered Android features that let AI understand screen context and complete multi-step tasks, strengthening its AI platform and expanding practical use cases across its ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Google is bringing “agentic” AI, Gemini in Chrome, and new AI-native “Googlebooks” laptops to market, signaling a broader product cycle that could support future revenue growth and keep Alphabet competitive with Apple and other tech giants.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s partnership with Affirm and Klarna to embed pay-over-time options into Gemini and Google Search could boost commerce activity, improve conversion rates, and make Google Pay more valuable to consumers and merchants.
• Positive Sentiment: Google-backed Isomorphic Labs raised $2.1 billion to scale AI-driven drug discovery, underscoring investor enthusiasm for Alphabet’s broader AI ecosystem and the value of its venture investments.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports that Alphabet is exploring first-ever yen bond financing to fund AI infrastructure suggest the company is willing to invest aggressively in compute capacity, which investors may view as necessary to defend and extend its AI lead.
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary around Alphabet nearing Nvidia in market value and being at the center of the AI boom highlights strong momentum, but these are more market narratives than immediate fundamental catalysts.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s heavier AI spending and new debt issuance may pressure near-term margins and raise concerns that the company is trading balance-sheet strength for a more capital-intensive growth strategy.
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo’s robotaxi recall over a self-driving software issue is a reminder that Alphabet’s broader “Other Bets” businesses still carry operational and regulatory execution risks.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.3%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $387.35 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $156.16 and a twelve month high of $402.00. The company has a market cap of $4.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.26. The business’s fifty day moving average is $323.56 and its 200 day moving average is $314.66.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.41%.

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.