Banco Santander S.A. Decreases Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Banco Santander S.A. lessened its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 809,043 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 47,098 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.7% of Banco Santander S.A.’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $196,678,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $63,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 37.9% during the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.5%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $308.70 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $319.56 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $288.48. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Robert W. Baird lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $375.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, March 6th. Cantor Fitzgerald restated an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Needham & Company LLC boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.18.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google closed its $32 billion acquisition of Israeli cloud-security firm Wiz, folding Wiz into Google Cloud to bolster cloud and AI security capabilities — a major strategic bet that can expand enterprise revenue and product differentiation for Google Cloud. Google completes $32B acquisition of Wiz
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s GFiber unit is combining with Astound Broadband to form an independent fiber provider majority-owned by Stonepeak; Alphabet will be a minority owner — a deal that monetizes capital-intensive infrastructure, reduces execution risk and frees cash for core cloud/AI investments. Google sells partial stake in fiber business, becomes minority owner of new venture
• Positive Sentiment: Canal+ struck a multi-year deal to use Google Cloud’s generative AI for production and content recommendation — a concrete enterprise win that illustrates continued commercial traction for Google Cloud AI in media. Canal+ taps Google’s AI for video production, content recommendation
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrades and technical commentary are supporting the stock: coverage showing a bullish analyst consensus and MarketBeat noting a stabilizing pullback near $300 have likely encouraged buying from institutional and retail investors. Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading 2.6% Higher on Analyst Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s increased involvement with Pentagon AI (Agent Designer/GenAI.mil) signals potential contract opportunities but also political scrutiny; revenue upside exists but with reputational/regulatory considerations. Google Deploys AI Agents to Help Pentagon Automate Jobs
• Neutral Sentiment: Reports showing odd/unchanged short-interest figures (zeros or NaN in filings) are effectively non-informative and are unlikely to drive the move in GOOGL today.
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive pressure from Microsoft’s expanding AI-cloud ecosystem (dual-model strategy, Anthropic/OpenAI ties) remains a medium-term risk to Google Cloud’s growth and margins. Microsoft Positioned to Win AI Race With Dual-Model Strategy (GOOGL)
• Negative Sentiment: Governance/compensation scrutiny after reporting of CEO Sundar Pichai’s large incentive package tied to long‑term “moonshot” bets could concern some investors worried about pay structure and execution risk. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai’s new $692 million compensation package…

Alphabet Company 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.