KBC Group NV Has $288.39 Million Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

KBC Group NV trimmed its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 24.4% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,002,889 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 324,260 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 0.7% of KBC Group NV’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $288,390,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,625,595,000 after buying an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its position in Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s latest quarter continued to support the long-term growth case: revenue rose 24% to $119.8 billion, Google Cloud growth accelerated to 82%, cloud operating income more than tripled, and its backlog reached $514 billion. Search revenue also grew 17%, easing concerns that AI tools are undermining the core advertising business. Alphabet quarter and valuation analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Investor enthusiasm is being supported by Alphabet’s potential to commercialize its internally developed AI chips, with initial external revenue reportedly expected by year-end. Analysts and value investors remain constructive; KeyCorp maintains an “Overweight” rating and a $445 target, while Phillip Securities upgraded Alphabet to “strong buy.” Alphabet AI silicon opportunity
• Positive Sentiment: Google is expanding its Play Signal age-assurance technology worldwide by the end of 2026, potentially strengthening Android’s safety tools and developer ecosystem. Waymo also began restoring freeway service, a sign of progress after earlier operational restrictions. Google age-assurance technology
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst estimates were mixed: KeyCorp raised its full-year 2026 EPS forecast substantially but trimmed quarterly and 2027 estimates slightly, while Erste Group lifted its 2027 forecast. This indicates strong near-term expectations but uncertainty about longer-term spending and profitability.
• Negative Sentiment: The main pressure remains Alphabet’s planned $195 billion–$205 billion of 2026 capital spending. Quarterly capital expenditures reached $44.9 billion and free cash flow turned negative, prompting investors to question whether AI infrastructure returns will justify the investment. Alphabet AI spending concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Additional risks include renewed fears that lower-cost AI models could pressure technology valuations, potential European private damages claims following Google’s $1 billion fine, and reports of a DeepMind research-team restructuring. Recent insider and major-shareholder sales are also a modest sentiment headwind, although they do not necessarily signal deteriorating fundamentals. Google European damages risk

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $336.71 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $359.40 and its 200-day moving average is $339.14. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $187.82 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market cap of $4.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.24.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.15 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research reports. President Capital increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $415.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, May 15th. Truist Financial set a $420.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, DA Davidson set a $350.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total transaction of $3,832,277.26. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 600,465 shares of company stock valued at $16,228,202. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet 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.