Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Insider Sells 47,574 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value 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 represents a 78.25% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

John Kent Walker also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, December 30th, John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.2%

Alphabet stock traded down $0.48 during trading on Thursday, reaching $302.85. The stock had a trading volume of 25,709,737 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,069,024. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The stock has a market cap of $3.66 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.02, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $320.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $277.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. 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%. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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 paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 7.77%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $53,000. 40.03% 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: Google and Apple are adding music-focused generative-AI features to core apps, showing Alphabet’s AI tech is moving into mainstream consumer experiences that can drive engagement and ad/licensing opportunities. Google Gemini, Apple add music-focused generative AI features
• Positive Sentiment: Google will develop AI tools with Sea Ltd for e-commerce and gaming in Southeast Asia — a tie-up that expands Google Cloud and AI reach in high-growth markets, boosting potential cloud revenue. Google, Shopee-owner Sea to develop AI tools for e-commerce, gaming
• Positive Sentiment: Industry mega-deals like the NVIDIA–Meta expansion reinforce massive, multiyear demand for AI compute — a tailwind for Google Cloud (inference/deployment demand) as hyperscalers lock in infrastructure spending. NVIDIA and Meta Deepen Their AI Alliance
• Positive Sentiment: Big investors remain supportive: Berkshire Hathaway kept its Alphabet stake in recent filings and other high-profile investors (e.g., David Tepper) have increased exposure — signals of institutional confidence in Alphabet’s cloud/AI strategy. Berkshire & AI Hyperscalers: Buffett Holds GOOGL, Dumps AMZN
• Neutral Sentiment: Booking Holdings’ stock-split/earnings story spotlights Google’s Travel/AI booking capabilities — the piece underscores competitive dynamics (Google can disintermediate travel booking) but it’s more relevant as industry context than an immediate revenue swing for Alphabet. Booking Holdings Split: The Catalyst Wall Street Didn’t See Coming
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: Director John Hennessy sold 600 shares (filed in mid-February) — a small but visible insider sale that can amplify short-term selling narratives. Alphabet Director John Hennessy Sells 600 Shares
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo/regulatory and operational noise: New York regulatory shifts and scrutiny around remote-assistance in robotaxis constrain Waymo’s expansion and keep a regulatory overhang on Alphabet’s AV ambitions. New York Gov. Hochul drops robotaxi service proposal for outside NYC
• Negative Sentiment: Service reliability and cost concerns: A YouTube outage and commentary about Alphabet’s heavy CapEx for AI compute contribute to short-term profit-taking and worries about near-term margins. YouTube outage hits over 32,000 users

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 13th. CICC Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. President Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 1st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.86.

About Alphabet

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.