Shum Financial Group Inc. Purchases Shares of 8,900 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Shum Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 8,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,164,000. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.6% of Shum Financial Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 21st largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after buying an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted 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 worth $40,524,841,000 after purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in 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 purchasing an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 503,306 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet has overtaken Apple to become the world’s second-most valuable public company, a market-cap milestone that signals investor confidence in Google’s AI-led growth story and may attract ETF flows and index-related buying. Google Claims Apple’s Spot on Most-Valuable-Companies List
• Positive Sentiment: Broker and media coverage has turned more bullish (upgrades and optimistic price-target notes), reinforcing momentum and giving investors confidence in further upside tied to Gemini/AI and search monetization. Alphabet Stock Gets an Upgrade. How Google Will Beat ChatGPT.
• Positive Sentiment: EU discussions reportedly spare Big Tech from the strictest aspects of a digital-rule overhaul, easing regulatory risk for Google’s ad and cloud businesses in Europe. Big Tech spared strict rules in EU digital rule overhaul
• Neutral Sentiment: EU antitrust regulators will rule on Alphabet’s $32B Wiz acquisition by Feb. 10 — a clear catalyst but with an uncertain outcome; approval would remove an overhang, while objections could delay or alter the deal. EU antitrust regulators to decide on Google’s Wiz deal by Feb 10
• Neutral Sentiment: Google and Character.AI reached settlements in lawsuits alleging chatbots harmed minors — this cuts litigation uncertainty but keeps reputation and product-safety issues on investors’ radars. Google and Character.AI to Settle Lawsuit Over Teenager’s Death
• Neutral Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (~$10.4M), a disclosed insider sale that slightly reduces his stake but appears routine and not an obvious signal of impaired fundamentals. SEC filing: Insider sale
• Negative Sentiment: Competitor dynamics: Nvidia hired a former Google marketing executive as CMO, underscoring intense competition for AI talent and marketing muscle in the AI infrastructure space — a subtle competitive headwind to watch. Nvidia Hires Google Veteran as Its First Chief Marketing Officer

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total value of $31,971.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,205 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,706,357.25. The trade was a 0.56% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 225,187 shares of company stock worth $66,695,036. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC boosted their price target on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 22nd. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $300.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Barclays reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $315.00 target price (up previously from $250.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $322.42.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.1%

Alphabet stock opened at $325.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.93 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.08. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $330.32. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $305.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $247.60. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

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.