Alphabet Inc. $GOOG Stake Trimmed by State of Michigan Retirement System

Key Points

• State of Michigan Retirement System trimmed its Alphabet stake by 1.6% in Q4, selling 26,100 shares and leaving the fund with 1,568,960 shares worth about $492.34 million (its 9th-largest holding).
• Large institutions broadly increased positions—Vanguard added ~8.13 million shares to hold 421.01 million shares (~$132.1 billion) and JPMorgan added ~7.90 million shares while also raising its price target to $460 and maintaining an "overweight" rating.
• Alphabet posted a strong Q1 beat (EPS $5.11 vs. $2.68 estimate; revenue $109.9B, up 21.8% year‑over‑year), which spurred analyst bullishness, and the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22.

State of Michigan Retirement System reduced its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,568,960 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 26,100 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 2.4% of State of Michigan Retirement System's holdings, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. State of Michigan Retirement System's holdings in Alphabet were worth $492,340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $132,114,125,000 after acquiring an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.6% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 99,529,742 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $24,240,469,000 after acquiring an additional 7,904,434 shares during the period. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.8% during the third quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 40,032,291 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,749,864,000 after acquiring an additional 2,209,203 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the third quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 32,583,332 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $7,935,671,000 after acquiring an additional 223,743 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 28,625,464 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,971,769,000 after acquiring an additional 539,679 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on GOOG. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an "overweight" rating and set a $395.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Truist Financial set a $385.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Alphabet from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. KeyCorp set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $362.73.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were 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 approximately $505,573,853.40. This trade represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 158,553 shares of company stock valued at $47,951,856 over the last quarter. Insiders own 12.99% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $395.50 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $4.78 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.25. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $149.49 and a twelve month high of $396.38. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company has a 50 day moving average of $315.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $310.59.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.68 by $2.43. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Alphabet's revenue was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.81 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.41%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Huge commercial win: Anthropic has committed roughly $200 billion to use Google Cloud and chips over multiple years, locking in large revenue/backlog assumptions that materially de‑risk Cloud growth and future margin expansion. Anthropic commits to spending $200 billion on Google's cloud and chips
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst bullishness: Mizuho and other shops have lifted forecasts/targets after Q1, citing underestimated Google Cloud and TPU/chip contributions — supporting further upside and helping push sentiment to record highs. Google Stock Nudges Up as Mizuho Elevates Alphabet’s Forecast
• Positive Sentiment: Q1 momentum and Cloud backlog: Strong Q1 results (large EPS beat, ~63% Cloud growth and a rapidly expanding Cloud backlog) continue to validate the AI/cloud revenue thesis and investor rotation into GOOG. Alphabet's $460B AI Lock-In
• Neutral Sentiment: Product & research moves: DeepMind took a minority stake in the studio behind EVE Online to train models in complex simulated environments, and Google is developing a personal AI agent (“Remy”) and new AI search features — these support long‑term AI capability gains but are incremental near‑term revenue drivers. Google DeepMind Will Train AI Models on the MMORPG Eve Online
• Negative Sentiment: Institutional trimming: Large funds disclosed meaningful reductions in GOOG holdings (e.g., CalPERS and Deutsche Bank filings show multi‑percent position cuts), which can add supply pressure and headline volatility. Fund Update: CALIFORNIA PUBLIC EMPLOYEES RETIREMENT SYSTEM Just Disclosed New Holdings
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory & legal risk: Google is negotiating changes in EU news search to avoid additional multibillion‑euro fines, but the liability remains unresolved — a material tail risk if regulators press further. Google moves to avert EU fines with offer in news search case, Bloomberg News reports
• Negative Sentiment: Employee / reputational friction: Classified DoD AI work and DeepMind unionization/employee protests over defense contracts create potential operational and PR headaches that could weigh on sentiment for some investors. Google DeepMind employees vote to unionize over AI military deals

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.

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