Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Increases Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 289,221 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,289 shares during the quarter. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.5% of Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest holding. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $70,310,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 1.3% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 516,559,609 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $91,033,300,000 after purchasing an additional 6,733,278 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 141,615,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $24,857,017,000 after buying an additional 4,224,497 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $21,944,208,000. Finally, Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 1.2% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 44,151,820 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,780,875,000 after acquiring an additional 503,306 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $338.00 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 33.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.08. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $342.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $320.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $264.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. Equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 18,307 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,224,380. This trade represents a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,067,707 shares of company stock valued at $103,627,383. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOGL. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 target price (up previously from $310.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. Mizuho set a $365.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $343.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 16th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $365.00 target price (up previously from $320.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-two have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $334.60.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Project Genie, an AI model that can generate fully rendered, interactive 3D worlds from simple prompts — a direct competitive advantage for Google in AI content creation that pressured gaming rivals (a potential long-term revenue and platform win for Alphabet). Videogame stocks slide on Google’s AI model that turns prompts into playable worlds
• Positive Sentiment: Project Genie coverage specifically names Unity and Roblox as being hurt by the announcement, underscoring that Google’s tech could displace parts of the gaming content creation stack — bullish for Alphabet’s AI moat and cloud/AI services demand. Google’s Project Genie Hammers Gaming Stocks. Unity Software and Roblox Sink.
• Positive Sentiment: Google disrupted a large residential proxy network (IPIDEA), claiming it removed millions of devices from abuse — a reputational and security win that reduces fraud and could lower costs/risks for Google services. Google disrupts large residential proxy network, reducing devices used by ‘millions’
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expanded airport robotaxi service in San Francisco — a commercial growth milestone for Alphabet’s autonomous-vehicle unit that supports long-term service monetization. Waymo Opens Up Airport Service in San Francisco. Everything to Know About the Robotaxi
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts and outlets are prepping for Alphabet’s upcoming Q4 results; estimate-driven coverage (Zacks) focuses attention on key metrics and could amplify post-earnings moves. Ahead of Alphabet (GOOGL) Q4 Earnings: Get Ready With Wall Street Estimates for Key Metrics
• Neutral Sentiment: Industry write-ups compare Alphabet to rivals in AI infrastructure (CoreWeave, Amazon) and note that Amazon/Google moves are chipping at Nvidia’s exclusivity in AI chips — a mixed competitive backdrop for cloud/AI spend. CRVW vs. GOOGL: Which Stock Wins the AI Infrastructure Race?
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage noting Amazon and Google eating into Nvidia’s chip dominance signals broader industry capex and partnership shifts — relevant to Alphabet’s cloud/TPU strategy but not an immediate stock catalyst. Amazon and Google Eat Into Nvidia’s A.I. Chip Supremacy
• Negative Sentiment: A federal jury found former Google engineer Linwei Ding guilty of stealing trade secrets and uploading internal AI materials to personal cloud accounts — a headline that highlights IP risk and could trigger internal reviews, compliance costs or client concerns. Former Google engineer found guilty of espionage and theft of AI tech
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo reported an incident where a robotaxi struck a child near a school and the NHTSA opened an investigation — a regulatory and PR risk for Alphabet’s AV program that could delay rollouts or invite additional oversight. A Waymo hit a child near an elementary school. The NHTSA is investigating

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.