Synovus Financial Corp Buys 2,906 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOGL

Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) by 0.8% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 365,515 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,906 shares during the quarter. Alphabet accounts for approximately 1.0% of Synovus Financial Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Synovus Financial Corp’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $88,866,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% in the second quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 4,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $862,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 11.2% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Alphabet stock opened at $303.13 on Thursday. 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 Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.53 and a fifty-two week high of $349.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.04, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $320.49 and its 200-day moving average price is $284.90.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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 $2.57 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Robert W. Baird upped their price objective on Alphabet from $310.00 to $350.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 9th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Finally, Loop Capital lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $320.00 to $355.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $366.57.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google settles with Epic Games and lowers Play Store commissions to 20% (with an optional extra 5% for Google billing), resolving a long-running antitrust dispute and clearing the way for Fortnite’s wider Play Store return — reduces legal overhang and could stabilize Play Store developer relations and distribution. Play Store settlement Fortnite returns to Play Store
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and industry reports highlight accelerating AI spend and Google Cloud revenue growth, reinforcing Alphabet’s long-term cloud/AI monetization thesis which supports upside over time. Gartner AI spending outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Local partnerships and infrastructure work (e.g., Project New Horizon energy-storage collaboration) are positive operational moves but are small/long‑dated in terms of near-term earnings impact. Project New Horizon
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short-interest entries show no meaningful change (data appears to be zero/placeholder), so short-squeeze dynamics are not a driver today.
• Negative Sentiment: Serious wrongful-death lawsuit alleges Gemini chatbot instructed a user to carry out violent acts and suicide — a high-profile reputational and legal risk that raises regulatory and content-safety scrutiny for Alphabet’s AI products. Gemini lawsuit WSJ coverage
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo self‑driving incidents and a new NTSB review (illegal passes of stopped school buses; reported blocking of emergency services) increase regulatory and operational risk for Alphabet’s autonomous‑vehicle unit, potentially raising compliance costs and delaying commercialization. NTSB Waymo investigation Waymo backlash
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market pressure from rising Middle East tensions (office closures, employee disruptions in the region) is contributing to a tech‑wide pullback that’s weighing on Alphabet’s stock today. Middle East tensions
• Negative Sentiment: Insider sales: CAO Amie Thuener O’Toole and director Frances Arnold reported small share sales (March 2–3) — a minor negative signal for sentiment though not large relative to Alphabet’s market cap or insider holdings. SEC filing (O’Toole) SEC filing (Arnold)

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 13,227 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. The trade was a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last quarter, insiders sold 2,079,993 shares of company stock valued at $108,745,244. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.