National Pension Service Raises Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 3.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 11,947,797 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 363,295 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.3% of National Pension Service’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. National Pension Service’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,904,509,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wealthgarden F.S. LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $271,000. Winnow Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 287.8% during the 3rd quarter. Winnow Wealth LLC now owns 4,847 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,183,000 after purchasing an additional 3,597 shares during the last quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.1% during the 3rd quarter. Hoge Financial Services LLC now owns 3,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $832,000 after buying an additional 424 shares in the last quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC now owns 188,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,927,000 after buying an additional 1,302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, High Note Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.7% in the third quarter. High Note Wealth LLC now owns 50,495 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,275,000 after buying an additional 357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and AI/cloud growth — Alphabet exceeded EPS and revenue expectations, Cloud revenue jumped ~48% and backlog expanded materially, supporting longer-term revenue and monetization from AI products. Alphabet’s Pullback: A Second Chance for Long-Term Investors?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism — Several firms raised price targets on GOOGL (noted lifts to $375 and $380), reflecting continued confidence in growth and upside vs. the recent pullback. Price Target Raised to $375 Price Target Raised to $380
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expansion — Waymo is deploying next‑gen Ojai robotaxis and using gig workers for door-closing operations, signaling commercial progress in autonomous mobility (long-term revenue optionality). Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong bond demand—but guardrails questioned — Alphabet’s recent global bond sale drew very strong demand (underscoring investor confidence), while commentary noted limited contractual protections for bondholders on a long‑dated issuance. This is liquidity/market-confidence positive but raises structural concerns for fixed‑income holders. Alphabet bonds’ lack of guardrails highlights investor confidence
• Neutral Sentiment: Century‑bond debate — Heavy demand for a 100‑year sterling bond signals long-duration appetite (positive for funding flexibility) but prompts caution about untested long‑dated issuance. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears Bond investors are betting on another 100 years of Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data appears unreliable — Reports show sudden increases but list zero shares and NaN changes (likely a data glitch); not a confirmed signal of rising short pressure. (internal short‑interest entries)
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probe into search ad auctions — European regulators are investigating Google’s ad-auction practices and pricing, which could lead to fines, operational constraints in Europe, or forced changes to ad platform mechanics. Google targeted by EU over its search advertising auction practices Google hit by fresh EU antitrust probe
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and AI arms‑race fears — Alphabet’s large 2026 CapEx outlook (~$175–185B) and the broader AI infrastructure spend among hyperscalers have raised investor concern about free‑cash‑flow strain and near‑term margin/return pressures; that theme contributed to short‑term selling after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings Mag 7 AI Arms Race: Heavy CapEx, FCF Strain
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness — Coverage notes that several mega‑cap tech names have softened (Magnificent Seven pressure), which amplifies selloffs in high‑multiple names like GOOGL even when fundamentals remain strong. Amazon Joins Microsoft in Bear Market

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. China Renaissance boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Citic Securities boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, November 3rd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, CICC Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $361.64.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.1%

GOOGL opened at $305.72 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $349.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.19 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $274.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.09.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,337,229.80. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,067,086 shares of company stock worth $105,184,255. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Alphabet

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.