Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.8% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) dropped 1.8% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $302.35 and last traded at $307.38. Approximately 35,597,926 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 2% from the average daily volume of 36,450,527 shares. The stock had previously closed at $312.90.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: AI & cloud momentum: Google Cloud is reporting booming revenues and a large ($240B) backlog; rising AI demand is driving upside potential for both Cloud and ad/search monetization, a near‑term revenue/earnings positive for GOOGL. AI Push Provides a Boost to GOOGL’s Cloud Business: More Upside Ahead?
• Positive Sentiment: Product/AI engagement: Google rolled out Nano Banana 2, an upgraded viral AI image generator with faster speed and better text rendering — reinforces AI leadership, user engagement and developer attention. Google launches Nano Banana 2, updating its viral AI image generator
• Positive Sentiment: Hidden assets & optionality: Analysis highlights Alphabet’s strategic stakes (notably ~14% of Anthropic and an early SpaceX position) plus Gemini distribution across devices — potential mark‑to‑market and ecosystem revenue upside beyond core Search/Cloud. Alphabet’s Quiet Edge: The Hidden Assets Powering Its Run
• Positive Sentiment: Security/operational defense: Google says it disrupted a China‑linked hacking group that attacked dozens of organizations — limits downstream risk from breaches and supports enterprise trust in Google Cloud/security services. Google disrupts Chinese-linked hackers that attacked 53 groups globally
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst action: Loop Capital raised its price target on GOOGL, a vote of confidence that can provide support to the stock over coming weeks. Loop Capital Boosts Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Price Target to $355.00
• Neutral Sentiment: Robotics consolidation: Alphabet is folding robotics software business Intrinsic into Google — could cut costs and accelerate product integration, but impacts are medium‑term. Former Alphabet ‘moonshot’ robotics company Intrinsic is folding into Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Waymo expansion: Waymo is beginning mapping and tests for Chicago/Charlotte expansion — a positive commercialization signal but benefits are long‑term and capital‑intensive. Waymo to begin testing in Chicago and Charlotte
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory overhang in Europe: Google is testing new search layouts to show rival results and try to avoid an EU fine — could reduce own‑service prominence and pressure search ad revenue or force product changes. Exclusive: Google to test changes to search results, source says as EU fine looms
• Negative Sentiment: Sector/insider selling pressure: Coverage flagged Magnificent Seven insider/net selling and some reported insider sales for Alphabet — contributes to sector rotation and near‑term stock weakness despite fundamentals. The “Magnificent Seven” Are Sending Shockwaves Through Wall Street With This $8.4 Billion Warning
• Negative Sentiment: Minor regulatory/legal items: Russia imposed a small fine over VPN distribution — headline noise that adds to geopolitical/regulatory clutter. Russia fines Google for distributing VPN services, TASS reports

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 price target (up from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $330.00 to $400.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $366.57.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.8%

The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $320.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $281.27. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.43, a PEG ratio of 1.82 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a current ratio of 2.01 and a quick ratio of 2.01.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $306.73, for a total transaction of $184,038.00. Following the sale, the director owned 20,624 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,325,999.52. This represents a 2.83% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 2,112,482 shares of company stock valued at $119,145,289. Company insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares in the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 4,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $862,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% in the second quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. Finally, Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 11.2% in the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after purchasing an additional 48,805 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.