Rakuten Securities Inc. Trims Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Rakuten Securities Inc. cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 18.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,191 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 2,288 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 0.8% of Rakuten Securities Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $3,642,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% in the 1st quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the period. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the first quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Ruggaard & Associates LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the first quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $840,000 after buying an additional 27 shares during the period. Cadia Private Client LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 1.1% during the first quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $744,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the period. Finally, Evansbrook LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 9,522 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,738,000 after buying an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.71, for a total transaction of $27,692.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,414,801.45. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total value of $2,232,808.20. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544. Corporate insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $338.46 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $349.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $342.61. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $231.90 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The firm has a market cap of $4.14 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.00, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.98 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The business had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.07 billion. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 4.42%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue growth and expanding margins continue to support Alphabet’s AI investment strategy. Supporters argue that cloud growth—reportedly up 82% year over year—could eventually justify the company’s much higher spending. Google Cloud growth article
• Positive Sentiment: A federal judge rejected a forced breakup of Google’s ad-tech business, limiting the immediate structural risk to Alphabet. The company will instead face behavioral remedies, although the ad-network business recently contracted. Google ad-business ruling
• Positive Sentiment: New AI features in Gmail, Docs and Keep, along with continued Gemini development, could improve user engagement and strengthen Alphabet’s competitive position in generative AI. Rosenblatt also reaffirmed a buy rating with a $410 price target. Google AI product launch
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share on September 14 to shareholders of record on September 4, providing a modest income component but unlikely to materially change the investment case. Alphabet dividend article
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet raised 2026 capital-spending guidance to approximately $195 billion–$205 billion. Second-quarter free cash flow turned negative as capital expenditures reached $44.9 billion, raising concerns that AI infrastructure spending may take years to generate adequate returns. Alphabet cloud margins and AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also concerned about execution: Gemini 3.5 Pro reportedly remained delayed, while the company faces multiple securities-fraud investigations and continued scrutiny over its ad-tech practices. These issues add legal and competitive risk to an already expensive AI buildout. Gemini delay article

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on GOOGL. Roth Capital reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $440.00 price objective (up from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Freedom Capital upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson set a $350.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $420.19.

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.