Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director Sells $318,580.50 in Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total transaction of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,405,091.71. This trade represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.0%

GOOGL opened at $301.00 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $317.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $292.57. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $349.00. 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 stock has a market cap of $3.64 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, March 13th. Barclays reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $360.00 price objective (up from $315.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. New Street Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $380.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 10th. Finally, Arete Research boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $405.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $367.18.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hired Jasjeet Sekhon, Bridgewater’s chief scientist, as chief strategy officer — a high?profile talent win that reinforces Alphabet’s DeepMind AI bench and long?term product roadmap. Exclusive: Bridgewater’s chief scientist Sekhon to join Google’s DeepMind AI unit
• Positive Sentiment: High?profile endorsement: Elon Musk tweeted that Google will “win the AI race in the West,” a bullish signal for market perception of Alphabet’s AI leadership. Elon Musk Says China Will Win The AI Race, But Here’s Where SpaceX Will Win
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: Google’s new “Stitch” AI design features are pressuring rivals (e.g., Figma’s stock fell), underscoring expanding addressable market for Google’s AI tools. Figma’s stock drops 11% in two days after Google releases ‘vibe design’ product
• Positive Sentiment: Market commentary highlights Alphabet’s operational strength (consecutive earnings beats, Cloud acceleration), supporting the bullish analyst consensus and relative outperformance among mega?caps. 2 Tech Giants Holding Their Ground While the Market Slides
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider sales disclosed: CEO Sundar Pichai sold ~32,500 shares (~$10M) and Director John Hennessy sold a small stake — notable but small relative to total insider holdings; monitor if these continue. Insider filing: Sundar Pichai sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Short?interest data in the feeds appears anomalous/zero and provides no clear signal (no days?to?cover build reported).
• Neutral Sentiment: Competitive takes: Analysts compare Snowflake and Alphabet on cloud analytics — SNOW’s momentum is notable but doesn’t negate Google Cloud’s growth trajectory. Snowflake vs Alphabet: Which Cloud Analytics Stock Has an Edge Now?
• Negative Sentiment: Investor concern about massive hyperscaler AI spending — analysts flag $410B+ capex across hyperscalers and question near?term returns, a theme that can pressure tech multiples including GOOGL. Forget the War Headlines: This Is the Real Reason Tech Stocks Are Struggling
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation debate persists: coverage notes shifting investment story as AI deals and capex raise questions about near?term upside despite solid fundamentals. How The Alphabet (GOOGL) Investment Story Is Shifting With AI Deals And Valuation Questions

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.