Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL is Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.'s 6th Largest Position

Key Points

• Crossmark Global Holdings increased its Alphabet stake by 20.7% in the fourth quarter, making GOOGL its 6th-largest position. The firm now holds 420,946 shares worth about $131.8 million.
• Several analysts have recently raised price targets on Alphabet, with the consensus rating at “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $412.65. New targets ranged from about $390 to $460.
• Alphabet beat quarterly expectations with $5.11 EPS versus the $2.64 estimate and revenue of $109.9 billion, and it also announced a slightly higher quarterly dividend of $0.22 per share.

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Free Report) by 20.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 420,946 shares of the information services provider's stock after buying an additional 72,286 shares during the period. Alphabet comprises approximately 1.9% of Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th biggest position. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $131,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $685,000 after buying an additional 581 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $85,557,000 after buying an additional 48,805 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the second quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $8,495,000 after buying an additional 3,120 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. CICC Research lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $388.00 to $407.91 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Susquehanna reaffirmed a "positive" rating and set a $460.00 price target (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $445.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Sanford C. Bernstein reaffirmed a "market perform" rating and set a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $412.65.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 8,993 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $275.89, for a total value of $2,481,078.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 51,808 shares in the company, valued at $14,293,309.12. This trade represents a 14.79% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders sold 226,481 shares of company stock valued at $27,422,061 over the last quarter. Insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $388.83 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $4.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.66, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. The company's 50 day moving average is $342.73 and its 200 day moving average is $323.73. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet's payout ratio is 6.41%.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is testing Gemini-powered Search ads, including conversational and contextual ad formats that could improve monetization and help offset concerns that AI search may weaken its core advertising model.
• Positive Sentiment: Google and CrowdStrike helped take down a botnet targeting open-source software developers, reinforcing Alphabet’s cybersecurity capabilities and its role in defending the broader internet ecosystem.
• Positive Sentiment: Reports around Google I/O and Alphabet’s broader AI lineup, including new Gemini features and AI search tools, suggest the company is still aggressively innovating to defend its leadership in search and advertising.
• Neutral Sentiment: Google’s $15 billion Missouri AI data hub investment highlights long-term infrastructure spending to support AI growth, but the near-term stock impact is likely limited.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet has drawn market focus from traders and analysts, with prediction-market activity suggesting shares may stay near current levels in the short term.
• Negative Sentiment: DuckDuckGo reported rising installs as some users respond negatively to Google’s AI Search overhaul, raising investor concerns that the redesign could push a portion of users toward competitors.
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai acknowledged that one Google AI Search result was “more opinionated than it should be,” underscoring the risk of AI accuracy issues and potential user trust problems.
• Negative Sentiment: Federal prosecutors charged a Google employee with insider trading tied to Polymarket bets, creating a reputational overhang even though the case appears to involve an individual employee rather than core business operations.

About Alphabet

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.

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