DNB Asset Management AS Acquires 19,194 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

DNB Asset Management AS raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.0% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 969,535 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,194 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises 0.9% of DNB Asset Management AS’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest holding. DNB Asset Management AS’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $236,130,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 100.0% during the second quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 60.9% during the second quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $311.43 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.77 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $321.49 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $283.36.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded AI image generator with faster performance and better text handling — reinforces product leadership for Gemini/search integrations and helps drive user engagement across Google services. Google launches Nano Banana 2
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reportedly struck a multibillion-dollar deal to rent its AI chips (TPUs) to Meta — a direct revenue and margin-positive outcome from Alphabet’s AI infrastructure investments. Google signs multibillion-dollar AI chip deal with Meta
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is securing power supply agreements for data centers (deals with AES and Xcel), which reduces execution risk for its AI/cloud buildout and supports continued capacity expansion. Alphabet Secures Power Deals
• Positive Sentiment: South Korea approved Google’s request to export high‑precision map data, opening commercial opportunities for Google Maps and Waymo in a market previously restricted — potential revenue and product expansion tailwind. South Korea approves Google bid
• Positive Sentiment: Heavy investors continue to add to Alphabet: notable buying by billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller was reported — an endorsement that can support sentiment among long-term institutional investors. Druckenmiller buys Alphabet
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage and buy ratings remain favorable (recent upgrades and positive notes on cloud/AI), supporting longer-term upside expectations even after concerns about spending. MarketBeat coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Short-interest updates in available feeds show anomalous/zero reporting and NaN changes — appears to be noisy data and unlikely to be driving today’s move. (Data entries flagged as 0/NaN.)
• Negative Sentiment: Belgian competition authorities opened a probe into Google’s online ad pricing practices — a regulatory risk that could pressure ad margins or lead to fines/operational changes in Europe. Belgian watchdog probe
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure intensified after OpenAI raised massive funding with Amazon/Nvidia/Microsoft as backers — concentrates AI competition and could blunt parts of Google’s enterprise opportunity or pricing power. OpenAI record funding report
• Negative Sentiment: Investor cautions: critics (Michael Burry, some options trade services) have flagged Alphabet’s aggressive AI capex and warned of margin pressure — a reminder of downside risk if spending outpaces near-term monetization. Michael Burry on Google’s AI spending

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total value of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,337,229.80. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock valued at $119,145,289. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $420.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Company 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.