Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 6,932 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 1,578,396 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 6,932 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up about 1.6% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $495,301,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 145.0% during the 3rd quarter. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 196 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $48,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 56.8% during the 3rd quarter. Bay Harbor Wealth Management LLC now owns 218 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $294.46 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.13. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $350.15. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $309.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $296.60.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $302.99, for a total value of $33,934.88. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,418 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,580,469.82. This trade represents a 0.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,101,844 shares of company stock worth $115,147,751. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Gemma 4, an open‑source AI model family that strengthens Google’s developer ecosystem and supports future cloud/AI revenue opportunities. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Google updated Gemini API pricing with “Flex” and “Priority” tiers to balance speed, cost and reliability — that could broaden usage, enable more price‑sensitive workloads, and boost API adoption/revenue. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Technical advances like TurboQuant (memory/compression for large models) can lower infrastructure costs for AI workloads and improve margins over time — a structural benefit to Google’s cloud/AI economics. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo and other analysts remain constructive (Overweight/Buy) but have trimmed price targets — signaling confidence in the long run while dialing back near‑term expectations. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market/ETF flows continue to amplify Alphabet’s moves (SPY/QQQ dynamics): macro risk‑on/off days can create outsized short‑term volatility for big caps. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Big Tech H‑1B filings have fallen, reflecting broader hiring freezes/reshuffling across the sector — not an Alphabet‑specific revenue issue but a labor/strategy signal. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Turkey’s competition authority opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — regulatory probes risk fines, remedial costs and local ad‑revenue disruption. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s principal accounting officer, Amie Thuener O’Toole, is leaving (joining Broadcom as CFO) — departure of a senior finance leader creates some short‑term transition risk for controls and reporting. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Semianalysis warned heavy AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — investors sensitive to FCF may penalize valuation if spending outpaces monetization. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling by senior executives (e.g., John Kent Walker) adds to near‑term negative sentiment, especially amid market sensitivity to insider activity. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader legal pressure on platforms (recent cases challenging Section 230 protections) raises regulatory and litigation risk for YouTube/Google content/ad products. Read More.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $360.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “buy” rating and issued a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Scotiabank reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $345.71.

About Alphabet

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.