Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director Sells 600 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John Hennessy sold 600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total transaction of $184,038.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 20,624 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,325,999.52. This trade represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2%

Shares of GOOGL traded down $3.70 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $302.02. The company had a trading volume of 39,156,419 shares, compared to its average volume of 38,219,928. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $140.53 and a one year high of $349.00. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $320.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $277.10. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The company has a market capitalization of $3.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Redwood Park Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Redwood Park Advisors LLC now owns 902 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $282,000 after buying an additional 46 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $84,365,000. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.5% during the 4th quarter. Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec now owns 6,235,987 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,951,864,000 after purchasing an additional 835,985 shares in the last quarter. Viking Global Investors LP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $834,543,000. Finally, Miura Global Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $4,695,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent research reports. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. President Capital lifted their price target on Alphabet from $323.00 to $375.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 7th. China Renaissance boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, February 6th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 target price (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $363.10.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud momentum: reported/covered Cloud revenue growth (surge ~48% Y/Y) that underpins upside in enterprise AI demand and improves near-term monetization outlook. Google (GOOGL) Cloud Revenue Just Surged 48%
• Positive Sentiment: Product roadmap / AI hardware: Google I/O set for May 19–20, with expectations of a 2026 launch for Google’s first smart AI glasses — a potential new consumer product cycle and headline AI device. Google announces I/O developer conference where AI glasses could be rolled out
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic partnership and infrastructure demand: India’s Adani Group plans a large investment in AI data centers alongside Google and Microsoft — signals increased hyperscaler demand and cloud expansion in a major market. India’s Adani Group To Invest $100 Billion In AI Data Centers
• Positive Sentiment: Big investor confidence signal: Berkshire Hathaway’s Q4 filing kept its Alphabet stake steady while trimming Amazon — a high-profile vote of confidence in Alphabet’s cloud/AI strategy. Berkshire & AI Hyperscalers: Buffett Holds GOOGL, Dumps AMZN
• Positive Sentiment: Green-energy support for operations: Ormat signed a long-term geothermal PPA to supply Google in Nevada — reduces energy / ESG risk for data center operations. Ormat signs 150 MW geothermal power deal with NV Energy to supply Google in Nevada
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo regulatory/oversight: Waymo defended its use of remote-assistance staff to Congress and said they haven’t been used to drive robotaxis on public roads — reduces some regulatory uncertainty but keeps oversight visible. Waymo defends use of remote assistance workers in robotaxi operations
• Negative Sentiment: High-profile stake reduction: Terry Smith (Fundsmith) reportedly sold about half his Alphabet holding — a headline that can add selling pressure or signal rotation among institutional holders. The ‘English Warren Buffett’ Just Dumped Half His Alphabet Stake
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/geopolitical risk in India: New talks of age-based social media restrictions in India could reduce engagement/ads across platforms, representing a regional regulatory risk for ad revenue. India discussing age-based restrictions with social media firms, top minister says
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx & tech-rotation pressure: Analysts and coverage note that Alphabet’s elevated 2026 CapEx plan to scale AI compute (reported guidance cited previously) has contributed to a short-term pullback amid broader megacap profit-taking. Alphabet’s Pullback: A Second Chance for Long-Term 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.