Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) CAO Sells $178,701.71 in Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 617 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total value of $178,701.71. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,923,235.59. This represents a 5.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan.

Amie Thuener O’toole also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, March 3rd, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00.
• On Monday, February 2nd, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total value of $314,001.15.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Alphabet stock remained flat at $294.46 during midday trading on Friday. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 13,406,950 shares, compared to its average volume of 20,954,326. The company has a market capitalization of $3.56 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.24, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.13. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $309.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $296.30. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.15 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google rolled out Gemma 4, an open‑source AI model family that strengthens Google’s developer ecosystem and supports future cloud/AI revenue opportunities. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Google updated Gemini API pricing with “Flex” and “Priority” tiers to balance speed, cost and reliability — that could broaden usage, enable more price‑sensitive workloads, and boost API adoption/revenue. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Technical advances like TurboQuant (memory/compression for large models) can lower infrastructure costs for AI workloads and improve margins over time — a structural benefit to Google’s cloud/AI economics. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Wells Fargo and other analysts remain constructive (Overweight/Buy) but have trimmed price targets — signaling confidence in the long run while dialing back near‑term expectations. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Market/ETF flows continue to amplify Alphabet’s moves (SPY/QQQ dynamics): macro risk‑on/off days can create outsized short‑term volatility for big caps. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Big Tech H‑1B filings have fallen, reflecting broader hiring freezes/reshuffling across the sector — not an Alphabet‑specific revenue issue but a labor/strategy signal. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Turkey’s competition authority opened an investigation into Google’s advertising and billing practices — regulatory probes risk fines, remedial costs and local ad‑revenue disruption. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet’s principal accounting officer, Amie Thuener O’Toole, is leaving (joining Broadcom as CFO) — departure of a senior finance leader creates some short‑term transition risk for controls and reporting. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Semianalysis warned heavy AI capex could push Google’s free cash flow toward zero next year — investors sensitive to FCF may penalize valuation if spending outpaces monetization. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling by senior executives (e.g., John Kent Walker) adds to near‑term negative sentiment, especially amid market sensitivity to insider activity. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Broader legal pressure on platforms (recent cases challenging Section 230 protections) raises regulatory and litigation risk for YouTube/Google content/ad products. Read More.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price target (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $348.00 price objective (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 12th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 15th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 target price on Alphabet in a research report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $360.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $345.71.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. J. Derek Lewis & Associates Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $1,699,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,941,000. Painted Porch Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.1% during the 4th quarter. Painted Porch Advisors LLC now owns 4,051 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,271,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $646,000. Finally, AMG Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $296,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Alphabet

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.