Sundar Pichai Sells 32,500 Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total transaction of $9,859,850.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,674,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $508,028,012.80. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Sundar Pichai also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 18th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00.
• On Wednesday, February 4th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total transaction of $10,893,350.00.
• On Wednesday, January 21st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00.
• On Wednesday, January 7th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total transaction of $10,439,325.00.
• On Monday, December 15th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total value of $9,743,500.00.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $2.61 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $298.30. 17,564,122 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 22,960,871. The stock has a market cap of $3.61 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.59, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $350.15. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $320.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $285.58.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted 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 during 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%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.15 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Alphabet News Roundup

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Canaccord Genuity Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $390.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Citigroup restated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have issued 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 stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Imprint Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $41,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Towne Trust Company N.A boosted its stake in Alphabet by 34.0% in the fourth quarter. Towne Trust Company N.A now owns 134 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.