South Dakota Investment Council Has $93.27 Million Stock Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

South Dakota Investment Council trimmed its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 324,336 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 27,188 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up 1.8% of South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings, making the stock its 8th largest holding. South Dakota Investment Council’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $93,266,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $33,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is seeking up to $25 billion through a 10-part U.S. bond offering, with reports indicating orders could exceed $115 billion. The strong demand suggests investors and lenders remain confident in Alphabet’s credit profile, while the funds will support AI data centers, computing capacity and other corporate needs. Alphabet seeks up to $25 billion from its latest bond sale
• Positive Sentiment: AI demand continues to create growth opportunities for Google Cloud. AI lab Mirendil signed a multiyear agreement worth more than $100 million for Google Cloud computing capacity, reinforcing demand for Alphabet’s infrastructure and services. Mirendil signs Google Cloud deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Demis Hassabis is moving from day-to-day leadership of Google DeepMind to become Alphabet’s chief scientist and chair of DeepMind, with a focus on long-term research, artificial general intelligence and Isomorphic Labs. Management says the change is intended to improve coordination between research and commercialization. Demis Hassabis new role
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Hassabis’ reduced operating role, combined with the departure of longtime chief scientist Jeff Dean and other senior researchers, could weaken Alphabet’s ability to retain talent and compete in frontier AI. The leadership changes followed concerns about delays in Google’s next-generation Gemini products. Google AI leadership departures
• Negative Sentiment: The debt offering highlights the scale of Alphabet’s AI spending. Although borrowing can preserve cash for operations, it increases interest obligations and intensifies scrutiny over whether future AI revenue will justify the substantial capital investment. Alphabet bond offering and AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned $15 billion India data-center project faces opposition over potential effects on water supplies and wildlife, creating possible permitting, reputational and construction risks. Google India data center environmental concerns

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $333.39, for a total value of $27,337.98. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,914 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,305,738.46. The trade was a 0.43% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 600,547 shares of company stock valued at $16,255,540 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price objective (up from $405.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group decreased their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Wall Street Zen downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Zacks Research raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 13th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $419.86.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.3%

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $357.75 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $194.33 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The company has a current ratio of 2.72, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 17.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.02 and a beta of 1.24. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $356.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $340.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $6.22. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $117.07 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.