Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Has $2.11 Billion Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lowered its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 31.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,710,414 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 3,097,738 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.9% of Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings, making the stock its 5th largest holding. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned 0.06% of Alphabet worth $2,105,728,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 145.0% during the third quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 196 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $48,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 56.8% during the third quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 218 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on GOOG. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $348.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Raymond James Financial raised Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $315.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $345.71.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of GOOG opened at $289.59 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $350.15. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $315.11 and a 200-day simple moving average of $294.83. The stock has a market cap of $3.50 trillion, a PE ratio of 26.79, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. Alphabet’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total transaction of $33,934.88. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 2,110,165 shares of company stock worth $118,134,117 in the last three months. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind/robotics partnership expands commercial uses for Gemini models and underscores Alphabet’s leadership in agentic AI — a near‑term narrative investors reward. Google partners with Agile Robots
• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud wins and industry deals (Openreach, BMO tokenization) reinforce enterprise monetization of AI/Cloud, supporting revenue growth that analysts cite in upgraded price targets. Openreach taps Google AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical and product improvements — lower‑memory AI algorithms and better AI‑generated music — improve efficiency and product appeal but are incremental for near‑term earnings. Google introduces new algos to reduce AI memory usage
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory/product initiatives in key markets — e.g., labeling verified investment apps in India — lower consumer‑risk friction but also signal more local compliance work for Google Play and services. Google to label verified investment apps in India
• Negative Sentiment: A Los Angeles jury found Google’s YouTube negligent in a social‑media addiction lawsuit — a small compensatory award now but a potential legal precedent that could multiply future litigation, settlement costs and regulatory scrutiny for platforms. That verdict has been the headline driver of earlier selling pressure. What did jury decide in social media case against Meta and Google?
• Negative Sentiment: Broader investor concerns — heavy AI capex, sector technical weakness and commentary about slide toward bear‑market territory — keep near‑term downside risk even as fundamentals improve. Google Stock Slides Toward Bear Market Territory

About Alphabet

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.