Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sells $9,877,400.00 in Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,818,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $856,605,814.08. The trade was a 1.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Sundar Pichai also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 4th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total transaction of $10,893,350.00.
• On Wednesday, January 21st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00.
• On Wednesday, January 7th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00.
• On Monday, December 15th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total value of $9,743,500.00.
• On Wednesday, December 3rd, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock traded up $12.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $314.98. 53,155,101 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 37,132,258. The stock has a market cap of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.14, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09. 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 Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $349.00. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $320.20 and its 200-day moving average is $277.46.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during 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%. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. UBS Group set a $348.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 target price on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $365.86.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic cloud partnerships expanding addressable market — Google announced a deal with Sea Ltd to build AI tools for e‑commerce and gaming, which supports Google Cloud revenue growth in Southeast Asia and demonstrates enterprise demand for its AI stack. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum — Google is rolling Gemini‑powered, music‑focused generative‑AI features (also showing up at competitors), indicating faster consumer AI adoption that could boost engagement and future monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional support & analyst upgrades — recent 13F activity and analyst price‑target increases (and MarketBeat coverage) signal long‑term investor conviction that can underpin the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI infrastructure arms race — NVIDIA–Meta mega‑deal and hyperscaler capex plans validate AI demand but raise competitive and capital‑intensity questions for Google; this is demand‑positive but increases the investment bar. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet exploring chip/partner strategies — WSJ reports Google is weighing ways to use its balance sheet to better compete with chip suppliers, a strategic move that could reduce long‑run costs or distract management depending on execution. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — recent disclosed sales by CEO Sundar Pichai and senior exec John Kent Walker (multi‑million dollar sales) can sap near‑term sentiment even if routine for compensation/liquidity reasons. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Security/legal risk — indictment of three engineers accused of stealing Google trade secrets and sending data to Iran raises potential IP, litigation and reputational risks that investors will watch. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI rotation/profit‑taking — some prominent managers have trimmed AI positions in recent 13F filings, which contributes to episodic pressure on hyperscaler multiples. Read More.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PMV Capital Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. Kentucky Trust Co increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% during the fourth quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.