Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Purchased by Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.

Crawford Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 26.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 132,599 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 27,996 shares during the quarter. Crawford Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $32,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Delta Asset Management LLC TN raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 6,153 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,496,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Matisse Capital grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 14,814 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Rialto Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% in the third quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $541,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Hodges Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.5% during the third quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,963 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilkins Miller Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 0.9% during the third quarter. Wilkins Miller Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,052 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $985,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 7th. The stock was 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 $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,076,615 shares of company stock worth $107,809,111 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major competitor Meta has delayed a next‑generation AI release and reportedly discussed temporarily licensing Google’s Gemini model, which could help Alphabet expand usage/licensing of its AI stack and win incremental share. Meta delays release; may license Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Needham & Company reaffirmed a “buy” on GOOGL and set a $400 price target (~32% upside from current levels), which can support investor confidence and buying interest. Needham reiterates buy
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple reports highlight Meta falling behind on large AI models (and considering licensing Google tech), reinforcing the view that Google could capture market share in foundational models and services. Meta falling behind — Yahoo
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Alphabet’s earnings growth and price strength as reasons to watch GOOGL, supporting a constructive fundamental view after recent results. Zacks: earnings growth & price strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Google, Amazon and Meta pushing their own AI chips signals a structural shift in AI infrastructure — a long‑term positive if Google’s stack wins, but it intensifies competition with incumbents like NVIDIA and may pressure margins/capex. AI chips competition — Yahoo
• Neutral Sentiment: Google sold a partial stake in its GFiber unit and partnered to form a new independent fiber provider; this reduces direct capital burden but also trims ownership of the broadband growth asset. GFiber stake sale — CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Brand/PR note: Google named its London HQ “Platform 37” referencing DeepMind/AlphaGo success — modestly positive for culture/AI branding but not material to near‑term financials. Platform 37 naming — Reuters
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulator and wider regulatory scrutiny on tech safety and child protection remain overhangs for Big Tech, including Alphabet, since new rules or enforcement could increase compliance costs or constrain certain services. UK regulator warning — Sky

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market outperform” rating and issued a $385.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $360.00 price target (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. DA Davidson increased their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.18.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.4%

Alphabet stock opened at $302.28 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $319.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $290.39.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 for 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 year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

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.