Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL Shares Sold by Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. decreased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 2.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 630,189 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 15,610 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for 1.8% of Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $153,199,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Moment Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.3% in the second quarter. Moment Partners LLC now owns 5,896 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,039,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares in the last quarter. Welch Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. Welch Group LLC now owns 64,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $11,325,000 after purchasing an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Brooktree Capital Management purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $352,000. Griffin Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 13.9% during the 3rd quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,731 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,277,000 after purchasing an additional 7,180 shares during the period. Finally, Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.9% in the second quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,028 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,415,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Citic Securities upped their price target on Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, November 3rd. President Capital upped their target price on Alphabet from $258.00 to $323.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $357.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 42,972 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,531,453.08. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares in the company, valued at approximately $725,942,020.50. This trade represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,067,686 shares of company stock worth $105,352,291. Insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOGL stock opened at $322.86 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $321.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $271.29. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $349.00. The company has a market capitalization of $3.90 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results 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. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 7.77%.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q4 estimates with $113.8B revenue, $2.82 EPS, huge Google Cloud growth (48% y/y) and milestone annual revenue above $400B — evidence that AI and ads are driving durable top‑line momentum. Alphabet Crushes Earnings Again, Reports 48% Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini/product adoption and a surging cloud backlog (reported at ~$240B) support longer‑term revenue leverage from AI investments — a structural growth argument investors and many analysts are citing. Google goes from laggard to leader as it pulls ahead of OpenAI with stellar AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the quarter (e.g., Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBC, Needham, Mizuho), providing analyst support under the share price. Multiple analyst price target raises (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest data shows no meaningful short position change (reads as negligible/quiet on short‑selling activity), so moves are likely driven by flows and sentiment rather than a short squeeze.
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF/sector flows and inclusion chatter (new Big Tech ETFs) can amplify moves in GOOGL but are not company‑specific catalysts. Big Tech Core: New Burney ETF Packs Apple, Nvidia, Google, Broadcom Punch
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet guided to $175–$185B of capex for 2026 (aimed at AI compute and cloud), a shockingly large jump that has investors fretting about near‑term free cash flow and returns on incremental AI spend — the dominant proximate cause of recent weakness. Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending (CNBC)
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market narrative: fears about excessive AI capex are prompting a tech sell‑off (FactSet noted >$1T wiped from big‑tech), which weighs on Alphabet alongside company‑specific capex concerns. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was reported after the quarter, adding near‑term pressure on sentiment. Alphabet Shares Down After Insider Selling
• Negative Sentiment: Employee protests over Google Cloud contracts with immigration agencies pose reputational/legal risk that can create headline volatility. Google Workers Demand End to Cloud Services for Immigration Agencies

Alphabet 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.