Man Group plc Sells 237,748 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Man Group plc lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 14.7% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 1,382,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 237,748 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 0.8% of Man Group plc’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th biggest holding. Man Group plc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $488,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the 4th quarter. Gerber Kawasaki Wealth & Investment Management now owns 275,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,596,000 after buying an additional 2,850 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 298.2% during the 2nd quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC now owns 22,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,854,000 after purchasing an additional 16,647 shares in the last quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. Violich Capital Management Inc. now owns 340,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $106,936,000 after buying an additional 3,378 shares in the last quarter. Montchanin Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,075,000. Finally, Sax Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 13.3% in the second quarter. Sax Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 30,489 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,773,000 after purchasing an additional 3,575 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. This represents a 10.68% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544 in the last quarter. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Alphabet from $415.00 to $400.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Alphabet from $455.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Alphabet from $430.00 to $420.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $415.55.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $332.03 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $206.96 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.06 trillion, a PE ratio of 16.68, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $347.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $340.34.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $116.53 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.31 earnings per share. Alphabet’s revenue was up 24.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 4.42%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google DeepMind is reportedly preparing to release Gemini 3.8 Flash as early as this week. Internal testing suggests the model narrows Google’s coding-performance gap with OpenAI and Anthropic, potentially improving Alphabet’s position in enterprise AI and software development. New Google AI Model Said to Narrow Gap on Coding Ability
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet-owned Waymo launched public robotaxi service in Denver, San Diego and Tampa, expanding its commercial operations to 14 U.S. cities. The rollout strengthens Alphabet’s long-term autonomous-driving opportunity as competition with Amazon’s Zoox and Tesla intensifies. Waymo accelerates robotaxi expansion
• Positive Sentiment: Google signed a 396-megawatt geothermal power agreement with Fervo Energy, supporting reliable, carbon-free electricity for data-center growth and its AI infrastructure strategy. Fervo signs geothermal power deal with Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway made Alphabet its third-largest holding after reducing Bank of America exposure. The move provides a high-profile vote of confidence, but commentary questioning whether Alphabet is fully valued limits its immediate impact. Alphabet becomes Berkshire’s third-largest holding
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Meta’s AI advertising products and OpenAI’s rapidly growing ad business could threaten Google Search’s advertising dominance and future ad growth. Competition threatens Google Search advertising
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned AI infrastructure spending—reportedly potentially reaching $205 billion this year—is raising concerns about depreciation, free cash flow and operating margins despite strong cloud and AI-driven revenue growth. Big Tech AI spending and depreciation concerns
• Negative Sentiment: EU regulators are examining Google’s proposed AI-search publisher opt-out, while a reported £260 million U.K. app-store settlement underscores continuing antitrust and regulatory exposure. EU regulators examine Google AI-search opt-out

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.