Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Stock Position Lessened by State of Michigan Retirement System

State of Michigan Retirement System lessened its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 17.1% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,596,380 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 328,900 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 2.4% of State of Michigan Retirement System’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest holding. State of Michigan Retirement System’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $459,055,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Down 7.1%

Alphabet stock opened at $317.69 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.85 trillion, a PE ratio of 15.96, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.24. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $187.82 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $364.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $338.88. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 57.20%. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $117.07 billion. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the 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 directly 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet delivered a strong quarter, with revenue of $119.8 billion and EPS of $9.11, both well above expectations, while Google Cloud revenue jumped 82% year over year and YouTube ad revenue also grew solidly. Reuters article
• Positive Sentiment: Management said AI demand is outpacing capacity, which helped justify higher investment plans, and Google Cloud CEO Thomas Kurian said existing customers are spending about 50% more than they initially committed. CNBC article
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s Gemini AI assistant now has more than 950 million monthly users, showing continued traction in its AI products and ecosystem. TechCrunch article
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet declared a quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share, a small but shareholder-friendly capital return move. MarketBeat reference
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed a large equity stake in SpaceX, highlighting the value of its investment portfolio, though this is not a direct operating catalyst for the core business. WSJ article
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are falling as investors react to a much higher 2026 capital spending outlook and Alphabet’s first-ever negative free cash flow, raising concerns that AI infrastructure spending could pressure returns. Barron’s article
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet also faces a new €890 million ($1 billion) EU antitrust fine over Search and Play Store practices, adding regulatory pressure. Reuters article
• Negative Sentiment: Several law firms announced securities-fraud investigations tied to Alphabet’s disclosures, which can add overhang and keep sentiment fragile. Business Wire article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital boosted their price target on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Rosenblatt Securities reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $393.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Robert W. Baird lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.