Income Insurance Ltd Makes New $5.53 Million Investment in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Income Insurance Ltd opened a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter, buying 17,660 shares worth about $5.53 million. The stake now makes up roughly 3.6% of its holdings and is its sixth-largest position.
• Alphabet continues to attract broad institutional support, with firms like Vanguard, State Street, and Capital World Investors increasing their stakes. Overall, about 40.03% of Alphabet shares are owned by institutional investors.
• The company remains well supported by Wall Street and strong recent fundamentals: analysts currently rate the stock a Moderate Buy with a consensus target of $412.65, while its latest quarter beat expectations on both EPS and revenue.

Income Insurance Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 17,660 shares of the information services provider's stock, valued at approximately $5,528,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 3.6% of Income Insurance Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after acquiring an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% in the third quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 50,732,476 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $12,333,076,000 after acquiring an additional 6,874,381 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.3% in the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 45,186,112 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,984,744,000 after acquiring an additional 1,034,292 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google Cloud announced a partnership with Swedish private equity firm EQT to help more than 300 portfolio companies accelerate AI adoption, reinforcing Google Cloud’s enterprise AI momentum. Reuters: Private equity firm EQT partners with Google Cloud for AI rollout
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo, Alphabet’s self-driving unit, began opening its new Ojai robotaxi to select riders; the vehicle is designed to be cheaper to manufacture and lower fleet-expansion costs, which could improve the long-term economics of the business. CNBC: Waymo opens Ojai robotaxis to select riders
• Positive Sentiment: Cantor Fitzgerald reportedly reiterated a bullish view on Alphabet Class A shares, adding to the case that investors still see upside in the company’s core businesses and AI initiatives.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is testing Gemini-powered Search ad formats, including conversational discovery and highlighted answers, which could eventually boost monetization but is still in the early rollout phase. Yahoo Finance: GOOGL's Innovative Ad Format to Boost Search Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Several pieces focused on Alphabet’s stock valuation and technical setup, including commentary suggesting support near current levels and possible upside toward $400, but these are market opinions rather than new fundamentals. Finbold: Google stock is guaranteed to hit $400...
• Negative Sentiment: The U.S. Justice Department charged a Google software engineer with insider trading tied to Polymarket bets, which adds reputational noise and could keep scrutiny on Alphabet’s internal controls and compliance culture. Reuters: US charges Google engineer with insider trading on Polymarket
• Negative Sentiment: Competitor commentary, including DuckDuckGo’s criticism of Google’s AI search overhaul and claims that some users are switching away, highlights ongoing competitive and antitrust pressure on Alphabet’s Search franchise. Yahoo Finance: 'It's Time To Fire Google,' Urges Alphabet's Search Engine Rival

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Argus increased their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 target price (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $412.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was 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 directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061 in the last 90 days. 11.61% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $390.13 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $344.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $324.52. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.73 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. 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 $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

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.

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