Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) was down 1.8% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $302.35 and last traded at $307.38. Approximately 35,597,926 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 2% from the average daily volume of 36,450,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $312.90.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI & cloud momentum: Google Cloud is reporting booming revenues and a large ($240B) backlog; rising AI demand is driving upside potential for both Cloud and ad/search monetization, a near?term revenue/earnings positive for GOOGL. AI Push Provides a Boost to GOOGL’s Cloud Business: More Upside Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI engagement: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded viral AI image generator with faster speed and better text rendering — reinforces AI leadership, user engagement and developer attention. Google launches Nano Banana 2, updating its viral AI image generator
• Positive Sentiment: Hidden assets & optionality: Analysis highlights Alphabet’s strategic stakes (notably ~14% of Anthropic and an early SpaceX position) plus Gemini distribution across devices — potential mark?to?market and ecosystem revenue upside beyond core Search/Cloud. Alphabet’s Quiet Edge: The Hidden Assets Powering Its Run
• Positive Sentiment: Security/operational defense: Google says it disrupted a China?linked hacking group that attacked dozens of organizations — limits downstream risk from breaches and supports enterprise trust in Google Cloud/security services. Google disrupts Chinese-linked hackers that attacked 53 groups globally
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst action: Loop Capital raised its price target on GOOGL, a vote of confidence that can provide support to the stock over coming weeks. Loop Capital Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $355.00
• Neutral Sentiment: Robotics consolidation: Alphabet is folding robotics software business Intrinsic into Google — could cut costs and accelerate product integration, but impacts are medium?term. Former Alphabet ‘moonshot’ robotics company Intrinsic is folding into Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo expansion: Waymo is beginning mapping and tests for Chicago/Charlotte expansion — a positive commercialization signal but benefits are long?term and capital?intensive. Waymo to begin testing in Chicago and Charlotte
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory overhang in Europe: Google is testing new search layouts to show rival results and try to avoid an EU fine — could reduce own?service prominence and pressure search ad revenue or force product changes. Exclusive: Google to test changes to search results, source says as EU fine looms
• Negative Sentiment: Sector/insider selling pressure: Coverage flagged Magnificent Seven insider/net selling and some reported insider sales for Alphabet — contributes to sector rotation and near?term stock weakness despite fundamentals. The “Magnificent Seven” Are Sending Shockwaves Through Wall Street With This $8.4 Billion Warning
• Negative Sentiment: Minor regulatory/legal items: Russia imposed a small fine over VPN distribution — headline noise that adds to geopolitical/regulatory clutter. Russia fines Google for distributing VPN services, TASS reports

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 target price (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 1st. DA Davidson boosted their target price on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, DZ Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, February 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $366.57.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The firm has a market cap of $3.72 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.43, a P/E/G ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $320.80 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $281.27. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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%. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,818,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $856,605,814.08. The trade was a 1.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at $3,337,229.80. The trade was a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock worth $119,145,289 over the last 90 days. 11.64% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $52,000. Kentucky Trust Co boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. 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.