Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Increases Stake in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 235,506 shares of the information services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,906 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.2% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $57,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in GOOG. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $4,298,572,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 73.5% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,388,775,000 after buying an additional 4,154,929 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17,547.9% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $731,331,000 after buying an additional 4,099,366 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 330.4% in the second quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 3,989,463 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $707,691,000 after buying an additional 3,062,590 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the firm’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 sale, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. This trade represents a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 225,187 shares of company stock worth $69,365,318. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major analyst upgrade and higher price targets highlight AI-driven upside — Raymond James raised GOOG to “Strong Buy” and boosted its price target (street chatter also shows multiple firms lifting targets), supporting investor confidence in Alphabet’s AI strategy and Google Cloud momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Big investors adding shares — Baillie Gifford disclosed adding ~1.19M GOOGL shares in the latest 13F filing, a sign of continued institutional accumulation that can underpin price support. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI ecosystem wins — Apple reportedly will use Google’s Gemini to power the next Siri, expanding Gemini’s distribution and reinforcing Alphabet’s AI moat and monetization pathways. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage remains focused on AI and technicals — Several outlets and analysts are publishing bullish previews and technical trading ideas (including MarketBeat, Zacks, TipRanks), which keeps interest high but doesn’t guarantee near-term moves. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo expansion vs. scrutiny — Waymo launched robotaxis in Miami (expansion signal), which can drive future growth for Alphabet’s autonomy segment but also raises operational/legal exposure as deployment scales. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: NTSB opens probe into Waymo after robotaxis passed stopped school buses — A federal safety investigation into repeated illegal passes in Austin (reported incidents across states) creates regulatory and reputational risk for Waymo and, by extension, Alphabet. That headline is the clearest near-term negative catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Antitrust litigation risk persists — A federal judge allowed a consumer antitrust lawsuit over Google Search to proceed, keeping legal exposure and potential remedies on the radar for investors assessing longer-term regulatory risk. Article Title

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock opened at $328.55 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $316.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $260.79. The firm has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $341.20.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $315.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Scotiabank reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective (up previously from $336.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 1st. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $326.13.

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.