John Hennessy Sells 600 Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director John Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.52, for a total transaction of $202,512.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 21,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,163,524.48. The trade was a 2.75% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9%

Alphabet stock traded down $3.15 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $333.16. The stock had a trading volume of 16,219,733 shares, compared to its average volume of 16,654,758. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $310.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $253.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.02 trillion, a P/E ratio of 32.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.86 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $341.20. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.12 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 8.28%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Major commercial validation — Apple has agreed to use Google’s Gemini as the foundation for the next generation of Siri, and MarketBeat highlights this as a primary catalyst behind Alphabet surpassing a $4 trillion market cap; analysts estimate meaningful licensing revenue and distribution upside. Alphabet Tops $4 Trillion Valuation as AI Momentum Runs Hot
• Positive Sentiment: Product progress — Google launched a Personal Intelligence feature and continues to integrate Gemini with other Google apps (and partners), moving Gemini toward a personalized assistant that can be monetized across search, cloud and device ecosystems. Google launches Personal Intelligence feature in Gemini app
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/market momentum — Upgrades, bullish commentary (including high-profile bulls and Jim Cramer praise) and inclusion in “AI favorite” narratives are supporting sentiment and fund flows into GOOGL. Jim Cramer crowns Alphabet’s Gemini 3 a stock market home run
• Neutral Sentiment: Sector tailwinds — Industry forecasts project massive AI spending this year, which benefits hyperscalers like Alphabet but also raises capital/competitive intensity across cloud and GPU suppliers. This is broadly supportive but not uniquely bullish for GOOGL. AI Spending Forecast to Hit $2.53 Trillion This Year
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/regulatory risk — Major publishers have asked to join a class-action suit alleging Google used copyrighted material to train AI models; litigation or unfavorable rulings could increase compliance costs or constrain training data use. Publishers seek to join lawsuit against Google over AI training
• Negative Sentiment: Competition & geopolitical pressure — DeepMind’s CEO says Chinese models may be “months” behind but closing the gap; faster foreign advancements increase competitive pressure on margins and innovation lead. China just ‘months’ behind U.S. AI models, Google DeepMind CEO says
• Negative Sentiment: Operational headwinds — Google warns U.S. electrical transmission constraints are slowing data-center hookups; longer build timelines could limit near-term capacity expansion for cloud/AI workloads. Google says US transmission system is biggest challenge for connecting data centers

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Westmount Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 2nd quarter. Westmount Partners LLC now owns 13,812 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,450,000 after buying an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 39.1% during the second quarter. WestHill Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 3,641 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $646,000 after buying an additional 1,024 shares during the last quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.9% in the second quarter. Riversedge Advisors LLC now owns 6,924 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,228,000 after buying an additional 1,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.4% in the second quarter. Key Client Fiduciary Advisors LLC now owns 4,688 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $832,000 after buying an additional 283 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Mizuho set a $325.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Pivotal Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $350.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, December 5th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-one have given a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $320.31.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.