Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 2.3% on Insider Selling
by Teresa Graham · The Cerbat GemAlphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) shares fell 2.3% during trading on Tuesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $386.11 and last traded at $387.66. 38,021,568 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 20% from the average session volume of 31,736,723 shares. The stock had previously closed at $396.94.
Specifically, 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 shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 60,077 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $23.01, for a total transaction of $1,382,371.77. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $425.00 price target (up from $395.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Citigroup reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, May 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $397.00 to $361.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 2nd. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $411.23.
Check Out Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Trending Headlines about Alphabet
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
- Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and Blackstone announced a new AI cloud joint venture built around Google’s TPUs, a sign that Google may be expanding the market for its custom chips and strengthening its AI infrastructure business. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
- Positive Sentiment: At Google I/O, Alphabet unveiled a broad set of AI upgrades across Search, Gemini, and agentic tools, reinforcing the view that it is monetizing AI across its core products and keeping pace with OpenAI and Anthropic. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
- Positive Sentiment: Google also announced AI-powered smart glasses with Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, extending its AI push into wearable hardware and creating another possible growth avenue. Google takes a page out of Meta’s book, announces new audio-powered smart glasses
- Positive Sentiment: Alphabet lowered the price of its top-tier AI plan while expanding access to more powerful Gemini features, which could help accelerate adoption and broader usage. Google Drops Price of Its Highest-Tier AI Plan as Gemini Gets More Powerful
- Neutral Sentiment: Google said Gemini 3.5 Pro will arrive next month, which disappointed some conference attendees, but the delayed launch does not change the broader AI product roadmap. Google isn’t releasing its next big AI model yet, drawing groans at its I/O conference
- Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling by a major shareholder was disclosed in SEC filings, but the sales appear routine and are less important than the bigger AI and cloud catalysts. SEC filing
Alphabet Stock Performance
The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $331.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $318.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.70 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.57, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.
Alphabet Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.41%.
Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet
Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $4,338,397,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,546,413,000 after buying an additional 13,004,828 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
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.