Baillie Gifford & Co. Sells 62,880 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Baillie Gifford & Co. trimmed its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,906,948 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 62,880 shares during the quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $707,987,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,927,821,000 after acquiring an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,511,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,428,266 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,022,926,000 after purchasing an additional 441,177 shares during the period. Sanders Capital LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 2nd quarter. Sanders Capital LLC now owns 35,357,943 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,272,146,000 after purchasing an additional 2,117,990 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 31,503,035 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,588,323,000 after buying an additional 695,736 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several research reports. Pivotal Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up previously from $350.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Piper Sandler lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $330.83.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google’s new Project Genie AI model — which can turn short prompts into fully rendered, playable 3D worlds and characters — is being viewed as a strategic win for Alphabet’s AI leadership and platform reach; the announcement spooked game developers but signals a new product avenue for Google that could expand ads, cloud consumption and developer tools. Videogame stocks slide on Google’s AI model that turns prompts into playable worlds
• Positive Sentiment: An analyst note expects Alphabet to beat Q4 revenue and EPS as AI lifts ads and cloud demand — a direct fundamental rationale for upside to near-term earnings and investor estimates. Alphabet Could Power Past Forecasts As AI Lifts Ads, Cloud: Analyst
• Positive Sentiment: Large institutional buying: Vanguard reportedly added material GOOGL exposure in its latest filing, which supports demand for the shares from big passive/active holders. Fund Update: VANGUARD GROUP INC Just Disclosed New Holdings
• Positive Sentiment: Google disrupted a major residential proxy network used by bad actors, a security move that reduces abuse risk across its ecosystem and is a modest reputational/operational positive. Google disrupts large residential proxy network, reducing devices used by operators by ‘millions’
• Neutral Sentiment: Wall Street is focused on Q4 guidance and key metric estimates ahead of earnings; expectations and guidance will likely drive short-term moves more than some headlines. Ahead of Alphabet (GOOGL) Q4 Earnings: Get Ready With Wall Street Estimates for Key Metrics
• Neutral Sentiment: Profile/endorsement notes: coverage pieces and fund letters (e.g., Giverny Capital mention, Tim Cook comments on partnership) keep sentiment visible but are unlikely to move the tape materially on their own. Alphabet (GOOG) Contributed 4.7% to Giverny Capital Asset Management’s 2025 Growth
• Negative Sentiment: A former Google engineer was convicted of stealing AI trade secrets and uploading internal materials to personal cloud accounts — a legal/security headwind that raises concerns about IP protection and could prompt tighter controls and scrutiny. Former Google engineer found guilty of espionage and theft of AI tech
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo involvement in a pedestrian incident has triggered an NHTSA probe; regulatory/safety risks around Waymo’s rollout remain a potential liability and source of short-term volatility for Alphabet. A Waymo hit a child near an elementary school. The NHTSA is investigating

Alphabet Trading Down 0.0%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $338.53 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.09 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.39, a PEG ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $342.29. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $320.91 and a 200 day moving average of $265.66.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 8.28%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,211,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $723,945,705.60. This represents a 1.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,224,380. This trade represents a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 2,070,485 shares of company stock valued at $104,428,169 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.