NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan Reduces Position in Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan trimmed its position in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 8.2% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 98,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 8,800 shares during the period. Alphabet makes up 2.6% of NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. NJ State Employees Deferred Compensation Plan’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $23,917,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Tradewinds LLC. increased its position in Alphabet by 2,134.8% during the third quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 45,098 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,984,000 after acquiring an additional 43,080 shares during the period. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its position in Alphabet by 31.3% in the 3rd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 354,529 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,345,000 after purchasing an additional 84,553 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 170,020 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $30,160,000 after purchasing an additional 2,304 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 157,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $38,272,000 after buying an additional 3,444 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American National Bank of Texas acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $900,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several recent research reports. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up previously from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wolfe Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DZ Bank upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Insider Activity

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total value of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,337,229.80. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,818,524 shares in the company, valued at $856,605,814.08. The trade was a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.7%

GOOG stock opened at $314.90 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $320.95 and a 200 day moving average price of $278.92. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $350.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. 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:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business 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 of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and brokers have raised price targets and highlighted AI/cloud upside (UBS, Canaccord), citing Gemini adoption and generative‑AI capex that could add meaningful cloud revenue. UBS generative AI capex note
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet committed to a major $15B America‑India Connect initiative and announced partnerships (Zillow, Sea) that expand Gemini/Cloud into verticals — positive for long‑term cloud/ads monetization and market reach. America-India Connect announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Notable institutional buying from hedge funds (e.g., Appaloosa/Tepper, Altimeter, Viking) signals conviction in Alphabet’s AI/Cloud thesis and can support the stock through execution milestones. Appaloosa increases stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Product demos (Gemini AI coach, music features) and consumer launches (Pixel device with AI features) improve user engagement and positioning but are not immediate revenue drivers. Gemini demo on CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for February shows anomalies (zeros/NaN) and provides no clear bearish signal at present; treat the statistic cautiously until reconciled.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior execs disclosed sizable sales (Sundar Pichai, John Kent Walker), which markets often view as a modest near‑term negative signal despite normal tax/liquidity reasons. Pichai sale filing Walker sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/IP risk: prosecutors have charged engineers in an alleged scheme to steal Google trade secrets and pass files abroad — reputational and security concerns that could invite regulatory scrutiny. Trade-secrets indictment
• Negative Sentiment: Execution/supply risks: DeepMind’s CEO warned that memory‑chip shortages constrain agentic AI research/deployment, which could slow rollout timing or raise costs for compute‑intensive initiatives. DeepMind chip shortage comments
• Negative Sentiment: Several institutional investors disclosed trims (Pershing Square, Longview, others). Broad portfolio rebalancing can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if longer‑term AI momentum remains. Pershing Square trim

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.