Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Sells 46,005 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc cut its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 16.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 232,202 shares of the information services provider’s stock after selling 46,005 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.4% of Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s portfolio, making the stock its 14th biggest holding. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $56,553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. IFS Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 400.0% during the second quarter. IFS Advisors LLC now owns 150 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 60.0% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 160 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, WestEnd Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 58.7% in the second quarter. WestEnd Advisors LLC now owns 165 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet News Roundup

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total transaction of $31,971.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,205 shares in the company, valued at $5,706,357.25. This trade represents a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total value of $202,512.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at $7,163,524.48. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 225,187 shares of company stock worth $69,365,318 in the last 90 days. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. KeyCorp reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $315.00 to $400.00 in a research report on Thursday. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $326.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $328.55 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $341.20. The company has a market capitalization of $3.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $316.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $260.20. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period 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 year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.