Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC Buys Shares of 75,053 Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC bought a new position in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 75,053 shares of the information services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $18,245,000. Alphabet accounts for 2.7% of Ironwood Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest holding.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Corsicana & Co. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 37.9% during the second quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 324 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Finally, S&T Bank PA raised its stake in Alphabet by 40.2% in the second quarter. S&T Bank PA now owns 345 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $61,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 4.0%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $314.98 on Friday. 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 has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.09. The company’s 50 day moving average is $320.32 and its two-hundred day moving average is $278.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic cloud partnerships expanding addressable market — Google announced a deal with Sea Ltd to build AI tools for e‑commerce and gaming, which supports Google Cloud revenue growth in Southeast Asia and demonstrates enterprise demand for its AI stack. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum — Google is rolling Gemini‑powered, music‑focused generative‑AI features (also showing up at competitors), indicating faster consumer AI adoption that could boost engagement and future monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional support & analyst upgrades — recent 13F activity and analyst price‑target increases (and MarketBeat coverage) signal long‑term investor conviction that can underpin the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI infrastructure arms race — NVIDIA–Meta mega‑deal and hyperscaler capex plans validate AI demand but raise competitive and capital‑intensity questions for Google; this is demand‑positive but increases the investment bar. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet exploring chip/partner strategies — WSJ reports Google is weighing ways to use its balance sheet to better compete with chip suppliers, a strategic move that could reduce long‑run costs or distract management depending on execution. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — recent disclosed sales by CEO Sundar Pichai and senior exec John Kent Walker (multi‑million dollar sales) can sap near‑term sentiment even if routine for compensation/liquidity reasons. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Security/legal risk — indictment of three engineers accused of stealing Google trade secrets and sending data to Iran raises potential IP, litigation and reputational risks that investors will watch. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI rotation/profit‑taking — some prominent managers have trimmed AI positions in recent 13F filings, which contributes to episodic pressure on hyperscaler multiples. Read More.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares in the company, valued at $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,211,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $723,945,705.60. This trade represents a 1.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 2,112,482 shares of company stock valued at $119,145,289 over the last three months. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. New Street Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Roth Mkm boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, February 9th. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, February 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $365.86.

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.