NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC Purchases 2,502 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC grew its position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 4.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 60,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,502 shares during the quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $14,870,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 400.0% during the 2nd quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Robbins Farley lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the 2nd quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. WestEnd Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the 2nd quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Fairman Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 121.3% during the second quarter. Fairman Group LLC now owns 177 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, University of Illinois Foundation purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major analyst upgrade and higher price targets highlight AI-driven upside — Raymond James raised GOOG to “Strong Buy” and boosted its price target (street chatter also shows multiple firms lifting targets), supporting investor confidence in Alphabet’s AI strategy and Google Cloud momentum. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Big investors adding shares — Baillie Gifford disclosed adding ~1.19M GOOGL shares in the latest 13F filing, a sign of continued institutional accumulation that can underpin price support. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Strong AI ecosystem wins — Apple reportedly will use Google’s Gemini to power the next Siri, expanding Gemini’s distribution and reinforcing Alphabet’s AI moat and monetization pathways. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage remains focused on AI and technicals — Several outlets and analysts are publishing bullish previews and technical trading ideas (including MarketBeat, Zacks, TipRanks), which keeps interest high but doesn’t guarantee near-term moves. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo expansion vs. scrutiny — Waymo launched robotaxis in Miami (expansion signal), which can drive future growth for Alphabet’s autonomy segment but also raises operational/legal exposure as deployment scales. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: NTSB opens probe into Waymo after robotaxis passed stopped school buses — A federal safety investigation into repeated illegal passes in Austin (reported incidents across states) creates regulatory and reputational risk for Waymo and, by extension, Alphabet. That headline is the clearest near-term negative catalyst. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Antitrust litigation risk persists — A federal judge allowed a consumer antitrust lawsuit over Google Search to proceed, keeping legal exposure and potential remedies on the radar for investors assessing longer-term regulatory risk. Article Title

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOG. Bank of America upped their target price on Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein upped their price objective on Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $270.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 2nd. Finally, Mizuho set a $325.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $326.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total transaction of $800,786.28. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 11,739 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,383,884.14. The trade was a 19.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. The trade was a 1.41% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 225,187 shares of company stock valued at $69,365,318. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $328.55 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $341.20. The company has a market cap of $3.96 trillion, a PE ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $316.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $261.38.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

About Alphabet

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.