New York State Common Retirement Fund Trims Stock Holdings in Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

New York State Common Retirement Fund reduced its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,445,480 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 86,383 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises 2.3% of New York State Common Retirement Fund’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest holding. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned approximately 0.06% of Alphabet worth $1,809,996,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth $53,000. Corsicana & Co. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $54,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sellwood Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $63,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at $3,383,884.14. This represents a 19.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 2,067,086 shares of company stock worth $105,184,255. Corporate insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $310.96 on Thursday. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50-day moving average is $321.68 and its 200-day moving average is $273.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Multiple firms raised price targets and maintained buy ratings (Arete to $405, New Street to $380, President Capital to $375, Daiwa to $380), which supports upside expectations from analysts. Arete Research price target New Street Research price target
• Positive Sentiment: EU antitrust regulators gave unconditional approval for Google’s $32B Wiz cybersecurity acquisition, removing a major regulatory overhang on the deal. Reuters: Wiz approval
• Positive Sentiment: Google is testing new shopping ad formats inside Search AI mode and Gemini, which could expand high-margin ad inventory and diversify monetization. PYMNTS: Shopping feature
• Positive Sentiment: Google participated in a large funding round for humanoid robotics startup Apptronik, signaling continued strategic investment in robotics/AI ecosystems. Reuters: Apptronik funding
• Neutral Sentiment: JPMorgan reiterated a Buy and other outlets (Zacks, CNBC coverage) continue to highlight Alphabet as a structural AI/cloud beneficiary — supporting longer-term conviction even as near-term volatility persists. JPMorgan reiteration
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet significantly increased bond issuance (initial $20B, later reports of >$30B) and is pursuing very long-dated debt (reports of 100?year paper) to fund massive AI infrastructure and acquisitions — investors worry this signals heavy near-term cash burn and margin pressure from capex. Reuters: $20B bonds WSJ: 100-year bond
• Negative Sentiment: High-profile criticism and skepticism surfaced (e.g., Michael Burry commentary, media pieces suggesting 100?year bonds reflect risk), amplifying investor concern about the financing move. Finbold: Burry comment
• Negative Sentiment: Privacy/regulatory headlines: report that Google handed personal and financial data of a student-journalist to ICE, plus an EU publishers’ complaint over AI Overviews, raise legal/regulatory risk that could pressure reputational and compliance costs. TechCrunch: data to ICE Reuters: publishers complaint

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Roth Mkm lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. President Capital increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Stifel Nicolaus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price target (up previously from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, December 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $361.64.

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.