Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 2.5% – Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price traded down 2.5% during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $362.02 and last traded at $363.79. 23,814,678 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 31,788,359 shares. The stock had previously closed at $373.25.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google Cloud business announced new AI-related partnerships, including a multi-year deal with HSBC to expand AI usage and another partnership with Ineffable Intelligence, reinforcing demand for Google’s cloud and AI infrastructure. Reuters: HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google also continued rolling out Gemini-powered products, including a new smart home speaker and Android 17 features, which supports the company’s AI platform strategy and could help future hardware and ecosystem adoption. TechCrunch: Google bets on Gemini to reinvent the smart home speaker
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s CEO and Google DeepMind leadership joined other top AI executives at the G7 to push for a U.S.-led AI coalition, highlighting the company’s influence in the global AI debate but offering no immediate financial impact. CNBC: CEOs of Anthropic and Google DeepMind call for U.S.-led AI coalition in meeting at G7
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analyst-style articles remained constructive on Alphabet’s long-term AI and cloud prospects, but they also flagged high capital spending, competition, and valuation concerns. Zacks: Alphabet Drops 6% in a Month
• Negative Sentiment: Britain’s competition watchdog imposed new conduct requirements on Google search, adding regulatory pressure around search ranking fairness and transparency and raising concerns about future oversight of Alphabet’s core business. Reuters: UK regulator sets out conduct requirements for Google’s search services

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. President Capital upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Loop Capital upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.41 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.75, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $363.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $331.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. The trade was a 5.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 159,466 shares of company stock valued at $6,957,543 in the last three months. 11.61% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 11.8% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $277,696,000 after buying an additional 93,293 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.2% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $86,000,000 after buying an additional 23,107 shares during the period. Retail Employees Superannuation Pty Ltd as trustee for Retail Employees Superannuation Trust bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,902,000. Finally, Private Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Private Advisory Group LLC now owns 24,717 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,736,000 after buying an additional 2,678 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

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.