John Hennessy Sells 1,050 Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3%

GOOGL opened at $388.91 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.71 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $334.65 and its 200-day moving average is $320.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,534,239,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $4,338,397,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 855.3% in the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,546,413,000 after acquiring an additional 13,004,828 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 28.0% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google I/O showcase highlighted a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, coding, and video tools, reinforcing expectations that Google can monetize AI rather than just defend against competitors. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Google and Blackstone announced a $5 billion joint venture to build AI cloud infrastructure powered by Google’s TPU chips, which could expand demand for Alphabet’s custom silicon and strengthen its enterprise AI ecosystem. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
• Positive Sentiment: Wall Street analysts turned more constructive after I/O, with firms including BofA, KeyCorp, Citizens JMP, Needham, and others reiterating or raising targets, signaling confidence that Alphabet’s AI strategy is gaining traction. Alphabet analyst forecasts
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet said Gemini now has 900 million monthly users and AI Overviews has 2.5 billion monthly users, showing that its AI products are already operating at significant scale. Google kicks off I/O conference with AI upgrades for coders, consumers
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet also introduced new AI-powered search and shopping features, including agentic tools and a universal cart, which could open additional monetization opportunities. Google’s new Universal Cart wants to follow you across the entire internet
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider and shareholder sales were disclosed, including a director sale and a larger shareholder sale, but these appear to be routine filings rather than a clear signal of changing fundamentals. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Ofcom said YouTube and TikTok have not done enough to protect British children from harmful content, adding another layer of regulatory scrutiny for Alphabet’s YouTube business. TikTok, YouTube lag on UK child safety as rivals act, regulator says
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors worry that Google’s AI-heavy search redesign could pressure its core ad model by reducing reliance on the traditional “ten blue links” format. Google Search as you know it is over

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOGL has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $435.00 price target (up from $427.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $390.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Phillip Securities lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $340.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 15th. Finally, President Capital lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Two equities research 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $412.65.

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.