Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1.1% – What’s Next?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price fell 1.1% during trading on Friday . The stock traded as low as $303.71 and last traded at $305.7210. 38,194,362 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 3% from the average session volume of 37,181,418 shares. The stock had previously closed at $309.00.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 beat and AI/cloud growth — Alphabet exceeded EPS and revenue expectations, Cloud revenue jumped ~48% and backlog expanded materially, supporting longer-term revenue and monetization from AI products. Alphabet’s Pullback: A Second Chance for Long-Term Investors?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst optimism — Several firms raised price targets on GOOGL (noted lifts to $375 and $380), reflecting continued confidence in growth and upside vs. the recent pullback. Price Target Raised to $375 Price Target Raised to $380
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo expansion — Waymo is deploying next‑gen Ojai robotaxis and using gig workers for door-closing operations, signaling commercial progress in autonomous mobility (long-term revenue optionality). Waymo begins deploying next-gen Ojai robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Strong bond demand—but guardrails questioned — Alphabet’s recent global bond sale drew very strong demand (underscoring investor confidence), while commentary noted limited contractual protections for bondholders on a long‑dated issuance. This is liquidity/market-confidence positive but raises structural concerns for fixed‑income holders. Alphabet bonds’ lack of guardrails highlights investor confidence
• Neutral Sentiment: Century‑bond debate — Heavy demand for a 100‑year sterling bond signals long-duration appetite (positive for funding flexibility) but prompts caution about untested long‑dated issuance. Why Alphabet’s 100-year sterling bond is raising new fears Bond investors are betting on another 100 years of Google
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data appears unreliable — Reports show sudden increases but list zero shares and NaN changes (likely a data glitch); not a confirmed signal of rising short pressure. (internal short‑interest entries)
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probe into search ad auctions — European regulators are investigating Google’s ad-auction practices and pricing, which could lead to fines, operational constraints in Europe, or forced changes to ad platform mechanics. Google targeted by EU over its search advertising auction practices Google hit by fresh EU antitrust probe
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and AI arms‑race fears — Alphabet’s large 2026 CapEx outlook (~$175–185B) and the broader AI infrastructure spend among hyperscalers have raised investor concern about free‑cash‑flow strain and near‑term margin/return pressures; that theme contributed to short‑term selling after earnings. Alphabet Drops 7% Post Q4 Earnings Mag 7 AI Arms Race: Heavy CapEx, FCF Strain
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness — Coverage notes that several mega‑cap tech names have softened (Magnificent Seven pressure), which amplifies selloffs in high‑multiple names like GOOGL even when fundamentals remain strong. Amazon Joins Microsoft in Bear Market

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating and issued a $385.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $354.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Loop Capital raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $260.00 to $320.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, CICC Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $240.00 to $303.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $361.64.

Alphabet Stock Performance

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 50-day moving average price of $321.19 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $274.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current 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 given a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 7.77%.

Insider Activity at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the transaction, the insider owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at $13,531,453.08. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 2,067,086 shares of company stock valued at $105,184,255 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 11.64% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% in the second quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 4,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% in the second quarter. WoodTrust Financial Corp now owns 91,268 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,196,000 after purchasing an additional 3,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 33.7% during the second quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 13,850 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,441,000 after buying an additional 3,492 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.