Alphabet Inc. $GOOG is State of Michigan Retirement System’s 8th Largest Position

State of Michigan Retirement System raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,573,260 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,300 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 2.4% of State of Michigan Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 8th largest position. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $451,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Ring Mountain Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Ring Mountain Capital LLC now owns 3,554 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,174,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. now owns 1,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $499,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.3% in the first quarter. Financial Enhancement Group LLC now owns 1,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $380,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. HRC Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,231 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,014,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Finally, Certior Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Certior Financial Group LLC now owns 919 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $288,000 after buying an additional 31 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Freedom Capital downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. UBS Group set a $430.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Raymond James Financial reiterated a “strong-buy” rating and issued a $425.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $383.44.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the insider owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, June 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $346.12 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $366.29 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $336.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.19 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $184.73 and a 12-month high of $404.47.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.81 EPS. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America and Wedbush remain bullish, with both highlighting strong cloud growth, AI monetization potential, and upside to the stock ahead of earnings. Alphabet could crush estimates on Cloud strength, Anthropic windfall: BofA
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investors are still pointing to accelerating Google Search and Google Cloud growth, while retail interest and institutional ownership remain strong ahead of the July 22 report.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI and cloud businesses remain central to the bullish thesis, with multiple articles noting that the company could benefit from rising AI infrastructure spend and strong earnings expectations.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.