Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Purchases 173,337 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 4.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,547,907 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 173,337 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 2.1% of Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th biggest position. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $1,307,796,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 during the period. State Street Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd 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. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after acquiring an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Alphabet by 4.9% during the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $21,630,861,000 after acquiring an additional 3,218,852 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Up 4.9%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $373.51 on Tuesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $190.12 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.57 trillion, a P/E ratio of 18.76, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.24. The business has a fifty day moving average of $357.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $339.62. The company has a quick ratio of 2.64, a current ratio of 2.72 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The company 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%. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strong earnings and analyst support: Alphabet’s latest results significantly exceeded consensus expectations, reinforcing confidence in accelerating revenue and profit growth. Multiple reports describe the stock as undervalued or a favorable growth investment, while analysts maintain a consensus “Buy” rating. Alphabet Stock is Climbing: What’s Going On Today?
• Positive Sentiment: AI infrastructure positioning: Commentary argues Alphabet is better equipped than many peers to absorb the cost of Nvidia chips while benefiting from expanding AI demand. Investors also see Google Search, cloud services, and AI infrastructure as complementary growth engines. Berkshire Hathaway’s reported investment in Alphabet adds to the bullish narrative. The Nvidia Tax: Alphabet Mitigates It Better
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo validation: An analysis reported that Alphabet’s Waymo robotaxis crash substantially less often than human-driven vehicles. While Waymo is not yet a major earnings contributor, the finding supports Alphabet’s long-term autonomous-driving and technology portfolio. Waymo robotaxis found to crash 68% less often
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial AI momentum: Google’s partnership with Paris Saint-Germain and participation in upcoming White House AI-regulation discussions highlight expanding enterprise and institutional interest in its AI capabilities. Paris Saint-Germain partners with Google on AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Microsoft’s lead in cloud market share remains a competitive concern, although Alphabet’s Google Cloud continues to grow and benefits from the same AI spending cycle. Microsoft Races Ahead of Google in the Cloud
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are weighing whether heavy AI capital expenditures will temporarily pressure margins or create durable long-term returns.
• Negative Sentiment: A Google Earth tool reportedly made it possible to create AI-generated fake satellite imagery, raising questions about safeguards, misinformation, and potential regulatory scrutiny. For a Day, Google Made It Easy to Spoof Satellite Imagery

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total value of $27,337.98. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,305,738.46. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This trade represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 600,547 shares of company stock worth $16,255,540 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 price objective (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. DA Davidson set a $350.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. HSBC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

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.