National Pension Service Acquires 206,444 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

National Pension Service raised its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,392,220 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 206,444 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.4% of National Pension Service’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. National Pension Service owned about 0.09% of Alphabet worth $3,261,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $31,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 34.0% in the 4th quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Winnow Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $63,000. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 29.0% in the 3rd quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 258 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock opened at $365.76 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $350.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $327.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $163.33 and a 1-year high of $404.47. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.81 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 21.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 6.41%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet signed a major cloud-computing agreement with SpaceX, with reports putting the deal at about $920 million per month for 32 months, which could provide a meaningful revenue stream and reinforce demand for Google Cloud. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s municipal-bond debut drew strong investor demand, suggesting institutions still view the company as a high-quality borrower with flexible financing options. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Some investors and analysts said the equity raise is a strategic move to accelerate AI infrastructure and may help Alphabet defend and expand its long-term leadership in search, cloud, and AI. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet also appeared in commentary about AI-related partnerships, including potential indirect benefits from the SpaceX IPO and other cloud collaborations, but these are mostly longer-term strategic themes rather than immediate catalysts. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Wall Street coverage focused heavily on Alphabet’s expanding capital expenditures, with some commentators warning that the AI buildout may be getting too expensive and could pressure free cash flow. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on GOOG. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Phillip Securities lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 15th. Truist Financial set a $430.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Monday, June 1st. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Pivotal Research reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $470.00 target price (up from $420.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 29th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $376.00.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at $995,341.06. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

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.