California Public Employees Retirement System Lowers Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

California Public Employees Retirement System lowered its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 4.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 14,637,980 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 740,459 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for about 2.6% of California Public Employees Retirement System's holdings, making the stock its 6th largest position. California Public Employees Retirement System owned 0.12% of Alphabet worth $4,209,298,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co boosted its position in Alphabet by 142.9% in the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $351.28, for a total value of $39,343.36. Following the transaction, the director owned 18,833 shares in the company, valued at $6,615,656.24. This trade represents a 0.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 23,417 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 24th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.88, for a total value of $442,112.96. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 285,049 shares of company stock valued at $10,051,351 over the last quarter. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s second-quarter results showed $119.80 billion in revenue and $112.19 billion in net income, while Google Cloud growth and early AI monetization helped reinforce the long-term investment case. Several analysts remain bullish; Phillip Securities upgraded the stock to “strong buy,” and KeyCorp raised its fiscal 2028 EPS estimate to $17.88 while maintaining an “Overweight” rating and a $445 price target. Alphabet Q2 earnings analysis
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet continues to attract support from value investors and dip buyers, with reports indicating that prominent investors increased their positions. The company also secured a multiyear agreement to bring Peacock content to YouTube Premium subscribers, potentially strengthening YouTube’s subscription and content ecosystem. Investors increase Alphabet positions
• Neutral Sentiment: The broader technology market is volatile ahead of major Big Tech earnings and the Federal Reserve’s interest-rate decision. That macro uncertainty may be contributing to sharp moves in Alphabet despite its strong fundamentals. Wall Street rebounds ahead of FOMC
• Negative Sentiment: The primary overhang is Alphabet’s plan to spend roughly $195 billion to $205 billion on 2026 capital expenditures, largely for AI infrastructure. Investors are questioning whether the spending will generate adequate returns after Alphabet reportedly posted negative free cash flow for the first time as a public company and paused buybacks under its prior program. A proposed $69.24 billion Class C stock shelf could also raise dilution concerns. Alphabet AI spending and cash concerns
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet faces additional legal and regulatory risk. European rivals are lining up potential private damages claims after Google lost an initial case under new EU competition rules, while Waymo faces possible federal requirements concerning emergency-response procedures. Major-shareholder sales disclosed in recent SEC filings are a smaller, but potentially negative, sentiment signal. Google faces potential European damages claims

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL opened at $333.71 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.24. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $360.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $339.07. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $187.82 and a one year high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $6.22. Alphabet had a net margin of 54.77% and a return on equity of 51.32%. The firm had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $117.07 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 19.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 7th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 4.42%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $430.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $379.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, President Capital lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $419.86.

Alphabet Company 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.

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