American National Bank & Trust Acquires 7,251 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

American National Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 66.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,241 shares of the information services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,251 shares during the period. American National Bank & Trust’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $4,443,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC boosted its position in Alphabet by 580,897.4% during the second quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC now owns 135,087,705 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $23,963,208,000 after purchasing an additional 135,064,454 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $4,298,572,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 416,753,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $73,927,821,000 after buying an additional 5,182,111 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 73.5% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 9,808,152 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,388,775,000 after buying an additional 4,154,929 shares during the period. Finally, Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 17,547.9% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,122,727 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $731,331,000 after buying an additional 4,099,366 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Canaccord raised its price target for Alphabet to $390 and reiterated a Buy, boosting upside expectations and supporting investor sentiment. Canaccord PT Raise
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet surpassed Apple to become the U.S. company with the second‑largest market cap, a headline that often attracts momentum buyers and index flows. Market Cap Surpasses Apple
• Positive Sentiment: Samsung said it will expand Galaxy phones with Gemini AI features — a distribution win that could accelerate user adoption of Google’s AI services and monetization opportunities for cloud/AI. Samsung / Gemini
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional activity remains supportive: MarketBeat and Quiver data show numerous upgrades, elevated price targets and large institutional buys, which underpin the rally. Analyst Sentiment / MarketBeat
• Neutral Sentiment: Competition in video/creator platforms (e.g., Spotify’s big creator push) and broader AI rivalry remain watch items; they could shift ad/video dynamics over time but are not immediate catalysts. Spotify vs YouTube
• Neutral Sentiment: Lobbying disclosures and quarterly fund/hedge‑fund positioning reported by Quiver are informational for policy and flows but unlikely to move the stock by themselves. Lobbying Disclosure
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet and Character.AI agreed to settle lawsuits alleging AI chatbots contributed to minors’ suicides — a material reputational and legal overhang that raises regulatory and liability concerns for AI products. Lawsuit Settlement
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts and commentators warn that AI “answers” could cannibalize search ad revenue if users stop clicking links — a structural monetization risk for Google’s core ad business. Ad Cannibalization Risk
• Negative Sentiment: Significant insider selling activity reported in recent data (multiple executive sales) can be read negatively by some investors, adding caution despite institutional buying. Insider Selling / Quiver

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG opened at $322.48 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.80, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $142.66 and a one year high of $328.67. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $305.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $247.79. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.12 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders 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 yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 8.28%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $250.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. TD Cowen raised their target price on Alphabet from $335.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 12th. KeyCorp reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $316.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total transaction of $9,743,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,239,619 shares in the company, valued at $671,437,776.20. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.45, for a total transaction of $31,971.90. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,205 shares in the company, valued at $5,706,357.25. This represents a 0.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 195,465 shares of company stock worth $57,056,497. Insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Profile

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.