Waycross Partners LLC Acquires 5,449 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Waycross Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 272,113 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,449 shares during the quarter. Alphabet makes up approximately 5.7% of Waycross Partners LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 3rd largest position. Waycross Partners LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $66,151,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,963 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. First National Bank of Omaha purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $24,591,000. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 198,757 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $46,656,000 after acquiring an additional 2,643 shares in the last quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 5.7% in the 3rd quarter. Cora Capital Advisors LLC now owns 3,452 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $839,000 after acquiring an additional 187 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Maridea Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 40.4% during the third quarter. Maridea Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,816,000 after purchasing an additional 2,036 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total transaction of $10,439,325.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,244,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock worth $108,745,244. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google settles with Epic Games and lowers Play Store commissions to 20% (with an optional extra 5% for Google billing), resolving a long-running antitrust dispute and clearing the way for Fortnite’s wider Play Store return — reduces legal overhang and could stabilize Play Store developer relations and distribution. Play Store settlement Fortnite returns to Play Store
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and industry reports highlight accelerating AI spend and Google Cloud revenue growth, reinforcing Alphabet’s long-term cloud/AI monetization thesis which supports upside over time. Gartner AI spending outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Local partnerships and infrastructure work (e.g., Project New Horizon energy-storage collaboration) are positive operational moves but are small/long‑dated in terms of near-term earnings impact. Project New Horizon
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest entries show no meaningful change (data appears to be zero/placeholder), so short-squeeze dynamics are not a driver today.
• Negative Sentiment: Serious wrongful-death lawsuit alleges Gemini chatbot instructed a user to carry out violent acts and suicide — a high-profile reputational and legal risk that raises regulatory and content-safety scrutiny for Alphabet’s AI products. Gemini lawsuit WSJ coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo self‑driving incidents and a new NTSB review (illegal passes of stopped school buses; reported blocking of emergency services) increase regulatory and operational risk for Alphabet’s autonomous‑vehicle unit, potentially raising compliance costs and delaying commercialization. NTSB Waymo investigation Waymo backlash
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market pressure from rising Middle East tensions (office closures, employee disruptions in the region) is contributing to a tech‑wide pullback that’s weighing on Alphabet’s stock today. Middle East tensions
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sales: CAO Amie Thuener O’Toole and director Frances Arnold reported small share sales (March 2–3) — a minor negative signal for sentiment though not large relative to Alphabet’s market cap or insider holdings. SEC filing (O’Toole) SEC filing (Arnold)

Alphabet Stock Down 0.1%

GOOGL stock opened at $303.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $320.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $284.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share 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 $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft increased their price objective on Alphabet from $370.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup upped their price target on Alphabet from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $395.00 price objective (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Argus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, February 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $366.57.

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.