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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total transaction of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $387.66 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $162.00 and a 12-month high of $408.61. The company has a market capitalization of $4.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $333.00 and a 200 day moving average price of $319.32. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and Blackstone announced a $5 billion AI infrastructure joint venture to build TPU-powered cloud capacity, which could deepen demand for Google’s custom chips and expand its AI ecosystem. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
• Positive Sentiment: Google I/O showcased a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, and video tools, reinforcing the idea that Alphabet is monetizing AI rather than just defending against rivals. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with Arete Research lifting its price target to $425 and maintaining a buy rating, signaling continued upside expectations. Arete Research adjusts price target on Alphabet to $425 from $405
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet said Gemini now has 900 million monthly users and AI Overviews has 2.5 billion monthly users, suggesting its AI products are already reaching scale. Google kicks off I/O conference with AI upgrades for coders, consumers
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed insider sales by a major shareholder, but the transactions appear routine and are not, by themselves, a strong fundamental signal. SEC filing
• Negative Sentiment: Some investors are uneasy that Google’s AI-heavy search redesign could disrupt the company’s core ad model, especially as the “ten blue links” era fades. Google Search as you know it is over
• Negative Sentiment: There is also headline risk from broader scrutiny around platform responsibility and YouTube youth-safety issues, which may keep some investors cautious. Alphabet’s $5 Trillion Milestone: How AI Ambitions Are Fueling Google’s Record Run

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several research reports. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Sanford C. Bernstein restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $390.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $411.23.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $416,217,000. Sovran Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% in the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,401,000 after purchasing an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $86,000,000 after purchasing an additional 23,107 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 21.2% in the third quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,171,000 after purchasing an additional 8,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% in the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,652,000 after purchasing an additional 3,740 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.