Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1.2% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price fell 1.2% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $381.77 and last traded at $382.97. 19,155,696 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 39% from the average session volume of 31,553,490 shares. The stock had previously closed at $387.66.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Q1 results were highlighted as one of the strongest among the Mag 7, with Google Cloud showing accelerating sales growth and broader AI momentum helping investor sentiment. Alphabet and NVIDIA: The Biggest Mag 7 Winners This Earnings Season
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s I/O announcements continued to reinforce Alphabet’s AI story, including new AI search experiences, agent tools, and upcoming AI glasses that suggest the company is expanding beyond traditional search. We tried Google’s AI glasses and they’re almost there
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain constructive on the stock, with multiple firms reiterating positive views and new AI ad formats seen as potentially boosting conversions and monetization in Search and Commerce. Alphabet’s new AI ad formats seen boosting conversions and spending
• Positive Sentiment: Google unveiled a $15 billion Missouri data center investment, underscoring continued capital spending to support AI infrastructure and cloud demand. Google Unveils $15 Billion Missouri Data Center Investment
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles discussed Google’s revamped AI-driven search experience and agent ecosystem, which are strategically important but still too early to measure their near-term financial impact. Google is pitching an AI agent ecosystem to consumers who may not buy it
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo temporarily suspended service in multiple cities after robotaxis drove into flooded roads, adding another safety and execution concern for Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit. Waymo suspends freeway rides, pauses Atlanta operations amid safety fixes
• Negative Sentiment: Google’s appeal of the antitrust ruling remains the biggest overhang, since a loss or forced remedies could eventually weigh on the company’s core search and advertising economics. Google appeals US court ruling on search monopoly

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have commented on GOOGL. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the company a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 19th. Dbs Bank raised their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price objective on Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. DA Davidson raised their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $412.65.

Alphabet Trading Down 1.2%

The company has a market cap of $4.64 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.21, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.26. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $336.26 and its 200-day moving average is $320.82. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for 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%. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a $0.22 dividend. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 6.41%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Alphabet news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 955 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $298.00, for a total value of $284,590.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 9,918 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,955,564. The trade was a 8.78% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $331.65, for a total value of $348,232.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 3,581 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,187,638.65. This trade represents a 22.67% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 226,481 shares of company stock worth $27,422,061 in the last quarter. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after purchasing an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 506 shares during the period. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% during the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $685,000 after acquiring an additional 581 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the 2nd quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 485,486 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $85,557,000 after acquiring an additional 48,805 shares during the period. Finally, United Bank grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. United Bank now owns 48,204 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,495,000 after acquiring an additional 3,120 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.