Synovus Financial Corp Buys 4,900 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 147,132 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,900 shares during the quarter. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $35,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. University of Illinois Foundation acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Alphabet by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Tripletail Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth approximately $40,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and brokers have raised price targets and highlighted AI/cloud upside (UBS, Canaccord), citing Gemini adoption and generative‑AI capex that could add meaningful cloud revenue. UBS generative AI capex note
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet committed to a major $15B America‑India Connect initiative and announced partnerships (Zillow, Sea) that expand Gemini/Cloud into verticals — positive for long‑term cloud/ads monetization and market reach. America-India Connect announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Notable institutional buying from hedge funds (e.g., Appaloosa/Tepper, Altimeter, Viking) signals conviction in Alphabet’s AI/Cloud thesis and can support the stock through execution milestones. Appaloosa increases stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Product demos (Gemini AI coach, music features) and consumer launches (Pixel device with AI features) improve user engagement and positioning but are not immediate revenue drivers. Gemini demo on CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for February shows anomalies (zeros/NaN) and provides no clear bearish signal at present; treat the statistic cautiously until reconciled.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior execs disclosed sizable sales (Sundar Pichai, John Kent Walker), which markets often view as a modest near‑term negative signal despite normal tax/liquidity reasons. Pichai sale filing Walker sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/IP risk: prosecutors have charged engineers in an alleged scheme to steal Google trade secrets and pass files abroad — reputational and security concerns that could invite regulatory scrutiny. Trade-secrets indictment
• Negative Sentiment: Execution/supply risks: DeepMind’s CEO warned that memory‑chip shortages constrain agentic AI research/deployment, which could slow rollout timing or raise costs for compute‑intensive initiatives. DeepMind chip shortage comments
• Negative Sentiment: Several institutional investors disclosed trims (Pershing Square, Longview, others). Broad portfolio rebalancing can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if longer‑term AI momentum remains. Pershing Square trim

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,987,279.15. This represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total value of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,337,229.80. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 2,112,482 shares of company stock valued at $119,145,289 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.7%

GOOG opened at $314.90 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $320.95 and a 200-day moving average of $280.08. The company has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $350.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 target price (up previously from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Company 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.