Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Shares Sold by Korea Investment CORP

Korea Investment CORP lowered its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.8% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,751,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 31,412 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 1.9% of Korea Investment CORP’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $913,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% during the second quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. Finally, Decker Retirement Planning Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 60.9% in the 2nd quarter. Decker Retirement Planning Inc. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 95 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $298.30 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $350.15. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $320.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $286.82. 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:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The firm 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 firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large enterprise/cloud wins and AI demand: Google Cloud deals (CVS health AI platform) and reported TPU leasing by Meta point to higher recurring cloud revenue and infrastructure utilization that support near‑term revenue growth. CVS taps Google Cloud Meta leases Google TPUs
• Positive Sentiment: Solid fundamentals/analyst support: Q4 results and earnings beats reinforce the “quality growth” narrative, and Bank of America’s reiterated Buy/$370 target keeps bull case intact. Q4 quality growth Bank of America maintains $370
• Neutral Sentiment: Anthropic access clarified: Google says Anthropic remains available for non‑defense uses after a DoD blacklist — this reduces near‑term disruption risk to customers but leaves policy uncertainty around defense contracts. Google on Anthropic availability
• Neutral Sentiment: Market narrative shifting: Analysts note GOOG’s strong 12‑month run has moved it from a “value” label to an execution/AI‑growth story — bullish if growth continues, but raises expectations. Forbes valuation piece
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical / physical risk to infrastructure: Reports that hyperscaler data centers are becoming military targets in the Iran war increase operational and security risk for cloud operations and potential outages. Data centers targeted
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal headwinds and fee cuts: The Epic Games settlement (lower Play Store commissions) and a high‑profile Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit raise revenue/margin and liability concerns for consumer services. Play Store settlement Gemini lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory scrutiny on Waymo / AV safety and technical/short‑term chart pressure: NTSB/industry scrutiny of autonomous‑vehicle safety plus technical analysts calling a short thesis add to near‑term selling pressure. Waymo NTSB scrutiny Chart short thesis

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total transaction of $10,439,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock worth $118,605,094. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. BNP Paribas Exane started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, November 24th. They set an “outperform” rating for the company. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $348.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $343.90.

Alphabet Profile

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.