John Hennessy Sells 1,050 Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total value of $387,061.50. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. This trade represents a 41.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded up $4.69 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $368.48. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 44,419,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,904,299. 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 Inc. has a 1-year low of $162.00 and a 1-year high of $408.61. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $364.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $331.35. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.23.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The business had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Susquehanna reissued a “positive” rating and issued a $460.00 price objective (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Barclays restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Two equities 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 stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $413.13.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s cloud and AI story got another boost after HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand AI capabilities, reinforcing demand for Alphabet’s enterprise AI tools and cloud services.
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary from analysts and market watchers continues to highlight Alphabet’s earnings strength, growing Google Cloud backlog, and AI-driven upside, which supports the stock’s longer-term bullish case.
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly nearly tripled its Alphabet stake in Q1, a high-profile endorsement that may be helping investor sentiment around GOOGL.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet introduced an “AI Control Roadmap” through DeepMind to address the risks of rogue AI agents, underscoring its focus on responsible AI development rather than signaling a direct financial impact.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also unveiled a new Google Home Speaker built around Gemini, showing continued product investment in consumer AI, though the near-term revenue impact is uncertain.
• Negative Sentiment: Top AI researcher Noam Shazeer is leaving Google DeepMind/Gemini to join OpenAI, a symbolic loss in the AI talent war that could pressure sentiment around Alphabet’s competitiveness in frontier AI.
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo recalled about 3,900 robotaxis after software issues caused vehicles to enter freeway construction zones, raising fresh concerns about execution risks in Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit.
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators also increased scrutiny of Google Search with new fairness and transparency requirements, adding to the regulatory overhang on Alphabet’s core business.

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.