Retirement Systems of Alabama Sells 3,180 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Key Points

• Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its Alphabet stake by 3,180 shares (a 0.2% reduction) and now holds 1,978,633 shares worth about $619.3 million, representing 2.0% of the fund's portfolio and its sixth-largest holding.
• Alphabet beat expectations for the quarter with $2.82 EPS (vs. $2.57 expected) and $113.83 billion in revenue, and the stock trades with roughly a $3.63 trillion market cap and a ~27.8 P/E.
• News flow is mixed: a long-term Broadcom deal secures custom AI chips through 2031 (supporting Google Cloud/AI scaling), but significant insider selling (including CEO Sundar Pichai) and some analyst caution add downside signals.

Retirement Systems of Alabama cut its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,978,633 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 3,180 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.0% of Retirement Systems of Alabama's investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Retirement Systems of Alabama's holdings in Alphabet were worth $619,312,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after acquiring an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% in the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares during the last quarter. Finally, United Bank raised its holdings in Alphabet by 6.9% in the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.4%

GOOGL opened at $299.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.63 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.12. The firm's 50 day moving average is $308.62 and its 200-day moving average is $297.26. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 7.77%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Long-term Broadcom deal to build and supply custom AI chips through 2031 secures a multi-year supply path for Google's next‑generation AI racks, lowering hardware risk for Google Cloud/AI scaling and supporting product rollout plans. Broadcom signs long-term deal to develop Google's custom AI chips
• Positive Sentiment: A Wall Street analyst reaffirmed a constructive outlook on Alphabet, helping investor sentiment despite unit‑level challenges (notably in autonomous driving), which supports near‑term buying interest. Wall Street analyst updates Google stock price target
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet stands to realize a sizeable paper gain from its early SpaceX stake if the IPO proceeds at reported valuations, an upside that can underpin long‑term investor thesis. 2 Stocks About To Make a Killing on the SpaceX IPO
• Neutral Sentiment: Broadcom's expanded arrangement also includes providing computing capacity to Anthropic using Google's AI processors — this could generate cloud‑revenue or cost recovery opportunities but also helps a competing AI vendor scale. Broadcom agrees to expanded chip deals with Google, Anthropic
• Neutral Sentiment: Intel's push into advanced chip packaging and talks with cloud providers could reshape the supply chain and introduce new competition/partners for AI infrastructure; this is a sector development to monitor. Intel Targets Amazon, Google on AI Chip Packaging
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst/opinion pieces highlighting Alphabet's ~27x P/E and earnings outlook provide supportive narrative for value‑oriented investors but are commentary rather than new fundamentals. Alphabet: Why Strong Money Likes It At 27x P/E
• Negative Sentiment: Wells Fargo trimmed its price target on Alphabet, signaling some analyst caution that can weigh on sentiment even if the new target remains above current levels. Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Alphabet Price Target
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling by Alphabet's CAO was reported, a small but negative signal investors watch for timing and magnitude. Insider Selling: Alphabet CAO Sells Stock
• Negative Sentiment: Shareholder pressure and community opposition over water and power use have already led to abandoned data‑center projects; environmental and permitting risks could raise costs or delay capacity expansion. Investors press Amazon, Microsoft and Google on water, power use

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on GOOGL shares. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Alphabet from $397.00 to $361.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. China Renaissance raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Moffett Nathanson lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $305.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Arete Research lifted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have assigned a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $367.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total value of $10,006,425.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. The trade was a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total transaction of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 51,808 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,101,844 shares of company stock valued at $115,147,751. 11.64% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Alphabet

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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