VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Invests $360.86 Million in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund bought 1,021,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $360,856,000. Alphabet accounts for about 2.2% of VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings, making the stock its 6th biggest position.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after buying an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 76.2% in the 2nd quarter. Worldquant Millennium Advisors LLC now owns 1,865,304 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $330,886,000 after acquiring an additional 806,681 shares during the last quarter. Darwin Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $658,000. Financial Advisors Network Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 7,945 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,409,000 after acquiring an additional 565 shares during the period. Finally, Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 10.7% during the 2nd quarter. Ausdal Financial Partners Inc. now owns 37,310 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,618,000 after acquiring an additional 3,616 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $333.20, for a total value of $149,606.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,386 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,125,015.20. This represents a 1.61% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 196,931 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.46, for a total value of $3,832,277.26. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 451,925 shares of company stock valued at $12,371,544 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet announced a partnership with Morgan State University to establish an AI campus, potentially expanding long-term talent development, research access and adoption of Google Cloud and Gemini. Alphabet Morgan State University AI partnership
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched a dedicated Gemini app for Windows PCs, making its AI assistant more accessible and increasing the opportunity to drive usage across consumer devices and services. Gemini Windows app
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s planned €13 billion investment in Finnish AI infrastructure, alongside a long-term agreement to purchase power from a nuclear plant, could provide reliable, lower-cost electricity for data centers and support Gemini, Search, Maps and YouTube. Google Finland AI infrastructure investment
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and investment commentary continue to highlight Alphabet’s cloud growth, more than 20% revenue growth and strong recent earnings as evidence that the company can fund substantial AI investment while maintaining attractive profitability. Alphabet return on invested capital and cloud growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest was listed at zero shares, unchanged from the prior report, so the data provide no meaningful evidence of short-covering pressure or growing bearish positioning.
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain focused on the cost of Alphabet’s AI buildout. Estimates that AI capital expenditures could reach roughly $200 billion have raised concerns about pressure on free cash flow, even though the stock’s valuation is viewed as reasonable. Alphabet AI capital expenditures
• Negative Sentiment: Meta’s new Muse AI agent has renewed concerns that autonomous assistants could bypass traditional search pages and reduce Google search advertising opportunities. ARK Invest’s decision to sell approximately $28 million of Alphabet and buy Meta added to the competitive sentiment. Meta Muse competition
• Negative Sentiment: Potential regulation could increase infrastructure costs: proposed U.S. legislation would require large data-center users to pay the full incremental cost of power-grid upgrades, while Finnish officials have warned that Google’s expansion could strain electricity supply. Data Center Fair Share Act

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on GOOG. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (down from $445.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. UBS Group restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $379.00 target price (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $475.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $415.55.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $330.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.04 trillion, a P/E ratio of 16.59, a P/E/G ratio of 0.95 and a beta of 1.21. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $236.58 and a fifty-two week high of $404.47. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $345.18 and its 200-day moving average price is $341.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 2.64 and a current ratio of 2.72.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.87 by $6.24. The company had revenue of $119.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $116.53 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 51.32% and a net margin of 54.77%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 24.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.31 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.5 earnings per share for the current 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 paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 4th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.