Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Retirement Systems of Alabama

Retirement Systems of Alabama reduced its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,981,813 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 7,984 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.6% of Retirement Systems of Alabama’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $481,779,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its position in Alphabet by 36.4% during the second quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after acquiring an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 37.9% in the 2nd quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 89 shares in the last quarter. Finally, S&T Bank PA lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 40.2% in the 2nd quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 99 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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 that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $725,942,020.50. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 1st. UBS Group set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. DZ Bank reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, DA Davidson raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $357.46.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q4 estimates with $113.8B revenue, $2.82 EPS, huge Google Cloud growth (48% y/y) and milestone annual revenue above $400B — evidence that AI and ads are driving durable top‑line momentum. Alphabet Crushes Earnings Again, Reports 48% Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini/product adoption and a surging cloud backlog (reported at ~$240B) support longer‑term revenue leverage from AI investments — a structural growth argument investors and many analysts are citing. Google goes from laggard to leader as it pulls ahead of OpenAI with stellar AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the quarter (e.g., Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBC, Needham, Mizuho), providing analyst support under the share price. Multiple analyst price target raises (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest data shows no meaningful short position change (reads as negligible/quiet on short‑selling activity), so moves are likely driven by flows and sentiment rather than a short squeeze.
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF/sector flows and inclusion chatter (new Big Tech ETFs) can amplify moves in GOOGL but are not company‑specific catalysts. Big Tech Core: New Burney ETF Packs Apple, Nvidia, Google, Broadcom Punch
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet guided to $175–$185B of capex for 2026 (aimed at AI compute and cloud), a shockingly large jump that has investors fretting about near‑term free cash flow and returns on incremental AI spend — the dominant proximate cause of recent weakness. Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending (CNBC)
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market narrative: fears about excessive AI capex are prompting a tech sell‑off (FactSet noted >$1T wiped from big‑tech), which weighs on Alphabet alongside company‑specific capex concerns. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was reported after the quarter, adding near‑term pressure on sentiment. Alphabet Shares Down After Insider Selling
• Negative Sentiment: Employee protests over Google Cloud contracts with immigration agencies pose reputational/legal risk that can create headline volatility. Google Workers Demand End to Cloud Services for Immigration Agencies

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL opened at $322.86 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $349.00. The company has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $321.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $271.29. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued 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 is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.