Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 1% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price was down 1% during mid-day trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $373.52 and last traded at $376.37. Approximately 24,118,897 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 23% from the average daily volume of 31,422,424 shares. The stock had previously closed at $380.34.

Specifically, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total value of $38,862.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. The trade was a 0.54% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $425.00 to $445.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Guggenheim restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Loop Capital upped their price target on Alphabet from $355.00 to $490.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment 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 company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.04.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway’s $10 billion investment signals confidence in Alphabet’s AI and cloud strategy and provides a high-profile endorsement of the company’s long-term growth plan. Berkshire invests extra $10 billion in Alphabet, deepening bet on AI
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is being viewed as a major AI winner because it can tap public markets to fund compute-heavy expansion, reinforcing the scale of its competitive position. Alphabet’s Mega Fundraising Shows the Value of Being a Public Company
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage of Alphabet’s broader AI push, including coding tools and hardware initiatives, underscores that management is investing aggressively to keep growth strong. Microsoft and Google are late to AI coding, but ‘absolutely critical’ they compete for growth
• Negative Sentiment: The $80 billion stock sale is pressuring shares because investors worry about dilution and the rising cost of Alphabet’s AI buildout. Alphabet to raise $80 billion in equity capital for AI spending
• Negative Sentiment: U.K. regulators are giving publishers more control over Google’s AI search tools, a move that could limit data access and add friction to Google’s search monetization strategy. UK regulator enforces new competition requirements for Google search

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $347.16 and a 200 day moving average of $325.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 6.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,534,239,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $4,338,397,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 855.3% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,546,413,000 after buying an additional 13,004,828 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $165,567,398,000 after purchasing an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,910,542,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.