Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $2.74 Billion Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 7.2% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 11,258,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 758,195 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 1.4% of Principal Financial Group Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest holding. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $2,736,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $54,000. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% during the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Susquehanna raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $225.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “positive” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet to $315.00 in a report on Monday, October 20th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Loop Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $260.00 to $320.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $361.64.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,064,308 shares of company stock valued at $104,383,469 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and AI/cloud growth — Alphabet exceeded EPS and revenue expectations, Cloud revenue jumped ~48% and backlog expanded materially, supporting longer-term revenue and monetization from AI products. Alphabet’s Pullback: A Second Chance for Long-Term Investors?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism — Several firms raised price targets on GOOGL (noted lifts to $375 and $380), reflecting continued confidence in growth and upside vs. the recent pullback. Price Target Raised to $375 Price Target Raised to $380
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expansion — Waymo is deploying next‑gen Ojai robotaxis and using gig workers for door-closing operations, signaling commercial progress in autonomous mobility (long-term revenue optionality). Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong bond demand—but guardrails questioned — Alphabet’s recent global bond sale drew very strong demand (underscoring investor confidence), while commentary noted limited contractual protections for bondholders on a long‑dated issuance. This is liquidity/market-confidence positive but raises structural concerns for fixed‑income holders. Alphabet bonds’ lack of guardrails highlights investor confidence
• Neutral Sentiment: Century‑bond debate — Heavy demand for a 100‑year sterling bond signals long-duration appetite (positive for funding flexibility) but prompts caution about untested long‑dated issuance. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears Bond investors are betting on another 100 years of Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data appears unreliable — Reports show sudden increases but list zero shares and NaN changes (likely a data glitch); not a confirmed signal of rising short pressure. (internal short‑interest entries)
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probe into search ad auctions — European regulators are investigating Google’s ad-auction practices and pricing, which could lead to fines, operational constraints in Europe, or forced changes to ad platform mechanics. Google targeted by EU over its search advertising auction practices Google hit by fresh EU antitrust probe
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and AI arms‑race fears — Alphabet’s large 2026 CapEx outlook (~$175–185B) and the broader AI infrastructure spend among hyperscalers have raised investor concern about free‑cash‑flow strain and near‑term margin/return pressures; that theme contributed to short‑term selling after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings Mag 7 AI Arms Race: Heavy CapEx, FCF Strain
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness — Coverage notes that several mega‑cap tech names have softened (Magnificent Seven pressure), which amplifies selloffs in high‑multiple names like GOOGL even when fundamentals remain strong. Amazon Joins Microsoft in Bear Market

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $305.72 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $275.51.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Alphabet 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.