Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Sells 4,562 Shares of Alphabet Inc. $GOOG

Key Points

• Pinnacle Associates trimmed its Alphabet stake by 1.3%, selling 4,562 shares and leaving 349,916 shares worth about $85.2 million, making GOOG its 15th largest holding (~1.1% of assets).
• Notable insider and major-holder selling: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares and 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares, with insiders offloading 2,112,493 shares (~$118.6M) over the past three months.
• Alphabet’s fundamentals remain strong after a Q4 earnings beat, analysts have a consensus Buy rating with a $343.90 price target, and the company declared a $0.21 quarterly dividend (0.3% yield).

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. decreased its holdings in Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Free Report) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 349,916 shares of the information services provider's stock after selling 4,562 shares during the period. Alphabet accounts for about 1.1% of Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 15th biggest position. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.'s holdings in Alphabet were worth $85,222,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% in the second quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,697,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 7.4% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 594,959 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $105,540,000 after acquiring an additional 41,132 shares during the period. Reston Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the second quarter. Reston Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,407 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,137,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the period. Finally, RPS Advisory Solutions LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 23.9% during the second quarter. RPS Advisory Solutions LLC now owns 6,575 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,166,000 after acquiring an additional 1,268 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large enterprise/cloud wins and AI demand: Google Cloud deals (CVS health AI platform) and reported TPU leasing by Meta point to higher recurring cloud revenue and infrastructure utilization that support near‑term revenue growth. CVS taps Google Cloud Meta leases Google TPUs
• Positive Sentiment: Solid fundamentals/analyst support: Q4 results and earnings beats reinforce the “quality growth” narrative, and Bank of America’s reiterated Buy/$370 target keeps bull case intact. Q4 quality growth Bank of America maintains $370
• Neutral Sentiment: Anthropic access clarified: Google says Anthropic remains available for non‑defense uses after a DoD blacklist — this reduces near‑term disruption risk to customers but leaves policy uncertainty around defense contracts. Google on Anthropic availability
• Neutral Sentiment: Market narrative shifting: Analysts note GOOG’s strong 12‑month run has moved it from a “value” label to an execution/AI‑growth story — bullish if growth continues, but raises expectations. Forbes valuation piece
• Negative Sentiment: Geopolitical / physical risk to infrastructure: Reports that hyperscaler data centers are becoming military targets in the Iran war increase operational and security risk for cloud operations and potential outages. Data centers targeted
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/legal headwinds and fee cuts: The Epic Games settlement (lower Play Store commissions) and a high‑profile Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit raise revenue/margin and liability concerns for consumer services. Play Store settlement Gemini lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory scrutiny on Waymo / AV safety and technical/short‑term chart pressure: NTSB/industry scrutiny of autonomous‑vehicle safety plus technical analysts calling a short thesis add to near‑term selling pressure. Waymo NTSB scrutiny Chart short thesis

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, January 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total transaction of $10,439,325.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,244,372 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $720,914,730.12. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total transaction of $35,060,852.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,112,493 shares of company stock valued at $118,605,094. 12.99% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. DA Davidson set a $300.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "buy" rating and set a $365.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Wedbush reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Scotiabank reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $400.00 price objective (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $298.30 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $320.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $287.43. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $350.15. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company's revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.15 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given 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 is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

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.

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