Korea Investment CORP Purchases 117,404 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Korea Investment CORP raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,357,372 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 117,404 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.2% of Korea Investment CORP’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Korea Investment CORP’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,059,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 1.3% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake 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 shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after buying an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,780,875,000 after acquiring an additional 503,306 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google closed its large acquisition of cybersecurity firm Wiz, bolstering Google Cloud’s security capabilities and signaling continued investment in cloud/AI — a strategic positive for long‑term cloud revenue growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: New commercial wins for Google Cloud underline enterprise demand for its AI stack — Canal+ struck a multi‑year deal to use Google Cloud generative AI for production and recommendations. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage and commentaries are constructive: MarketBeat highlights a technical entry point after a pullback and many analysts still rate GOOGL as a buy; Zacks cites earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch the stock. These viewpoints help support demand from long‑term and institutional investors. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google is reorganizing GFiber into a new independent venture with outside partners (Stonepeak/Astound); Alphabet becomes a minority owner — this recycles capital and reduces direct operational exposure, which is strategically neutral to positive but may have limited near‑term earnings impact. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent short‑interest data in these feeds show zero or NaN values and are not meaningful — no clear short‑squeeze or covering signal from these reports. (Data appears erroneous.)
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory pressure in key markets is rising: UK regulators have issued warnings and deadlines to tech firms on child safety online, adding potential compliance costs and uncertainty for large platforms. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Some commentary flags that Google’s AI leadership is being tested by competitors and market expectations — any signs of slowing AI monetization or execution stoke near‑term investor anxiety. Read More.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at $720,914,730.12. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094 in the last quarter. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $303.55 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $349.00. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $319.37 and its 200-day moving average is $288.58. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.08, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Bank of America boosted their price target on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. Argus raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Roth Mkm increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.18.

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.