Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.5% – Should You Sell?

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) fell 1.5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $341.73 and last traded at $342.09. Approximately 32,281,822 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 0% from the average daily volume of 32,180,086 shares. The stock had previously closed at $347.15.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: TD Cowen supply-chain checks point to record hyperscaler leasing and strong data-center demand led by Google, reinforcing the idea that Alphabet’s AI and cloud infrastructure investments are still seeing real demand. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Citizens JMP reaffirmed Alphabet as a market outperform and set a $515 price target, signaling Wall Street still sees meaningful upside ahead of earnings. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts continue to point to upside potential in Alphabet’s earnings revisions and consensus targets, suggesting expectations remain constructive heading into the report. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Google rolled out new Gemini models and a new iPhone-to-Android migration tool, which are supportive product updates but not likely immediate stock-moving catalysts on their own. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet enters earnings with options pricing implying a sizable move, showing that traders expect a potentially volatile reaction to the results. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are focused on whether Alphabet can justify massive AI and data-center spending, with concerns that margins and returns may be pressured if cloud and search growth disappoint. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Reports that Google’s Gemini 3.5 Pro launch is delayed have fed worries that Alphabet is slipping behind competitors in frontier AI. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Publisher backlash against Google AI Overviews could threaten search traffic relationships and add regulatory or commercial pressure over time. Article Title

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald upped their price target on Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $445.00 target price (up from $425.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $414.54.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.5%

The company has a market cap of $4.14 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 1.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $367.35 and a 200 day moving average of $338.65. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 22nd. The information services provider reported $9.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.87 by $6.24. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $545,941.03. This represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 159,415 shares of company stock valued at $7,672,279 over the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. EMC Capital Management purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $33,000. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $32,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.