Arizona State Retirement System Sells 50,682 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Arizona State Retirement System cut its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,282,599 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 50,682 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises about 2.3% of Arizona State Retirement System’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 7th largest position. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $453,181,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOG. Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Imprint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Toth Financial Advisory Corp acquired a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $41,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google completed its acquisition of AI-agent startup Mechanize in a deal reportedly valued at more than $1.5 billion. Mechanize’s former CEO and other employees have joined Google, strengthening Alphabet’s capabilities in autonomous AI agents. Google completes its deal for AI startup Mechanize
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is broadening Gemini’s commercial reach. Google Cloud launched Gemini Enterprise for Financial Services in preview, with Deutsche Bank as an early proving ground, while a new Accenture partnership will train up to 1,000 engineers to implement Gemini applications for enterprise customers. Google Cloud launches AI agents for banking
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s AI tools are gaining traction in media and creative software. Avid Technology said it is working with Google to accelerate creative workflows, while Gemini is increasingly being positioned as a competitor to Adobe’s tools. Google helps Avid accelerate the creative process with AI
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned €13 billion Finland AI infrastructure investment, supported by a long-term nuclear power agreement, could provide more predictable energy costs for data centers and strengthen Google Cloud and TPU capacity. Analysts also see TPU sales as a potential source of additional Cloud growth. Alphabet’s TPU sales could drive Google Cloud upside
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet faces a continuing securities-fraud investigation by the Law Offices of Frank R. Cruz. The announcement is an investor solicitation and does not establish wrongdoing, but it could add headline and litigation risk. Securities fraud investigation into Alphabet continues
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned about Alphabet’s roughly $200 billion AI capital-spending plans, potential electricity and data-center costs, and competition from OpenAI, Anthropic and Meta. A proposed U.S. bill could also require large data-center operators such as Alphabet to absorb more power-infrastructure costs.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, August 20th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. KeyCorp set a $445.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Friday, July 10th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 target price (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Zacks Research lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Pivotal Research boosted their price target on Alphabet from $470.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.55.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 118,138 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $18.90, for a total transaction of $2,232,808.20. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.71, for a total transaction of $27,692.22. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,995 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,414,801.45. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.5%

GOOG stock opened at $335.45 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $344.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $341.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 2.72 and a quick ratio of 2.64. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $236.68 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.85, a P/E/G ratio of 0.96 and a beta of 1.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $6.24. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The company had revenue of $119.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $116.53 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.52 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 14th. Investors of record on Monday, September 7th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 4th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 4.42%.

Alphabet Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known as the parent company of Google. It was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring intended to separate Google’s core internet businesses from a collection of other ventures. Google remains Alphabet’s largest business and serves users, advertisers, businesses and developers worldwide.

Google’s principal products and services include its internet search engine, online advertising platforms, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play and Google Photos.