Korea Investment CORP Decreases Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Korea Investment CORP decreased its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,130,545 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 112,319 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 2.8% of Korea Investment CORP’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,476,133,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and set a $515.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Barclays restated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 target price (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Pivotal Research reissued a “buy” rating and set a $475.00 price objective (up from $470.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $445.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-five have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $420.19.

Alphabet Price Performance

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

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business 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 of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 4.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total transaction of $149,606.80. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. The trade was a 1.61% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.71, for a total value of $27,692.22. Following the sale, the director owned 18,995 shares in the company, valued at $6,414,801.45. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 451,925 shares of company stock worth $12,371,544 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

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.