Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai Sells 32,500 Shares

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $307.89, for a total transaction of $10,006,425.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,642,060 shares in the company, valued at approximately $505,573,853.40. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Sundar Pichai also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, March 4th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00.
• On Wednesday, February 18th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00.
• On Wednesday, February 4th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total transaction of $10,893,350.00.
• On Wednesday, January 21st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00.
• On Wednesday, January 7th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $306.30 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 28.33, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $142.66 and a fifty-two week high of $350.15. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $318.68 and its 200-day simple moving average is $292.32.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.15 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,901,000 after acquiring an additional 6,410 shares during the period. LSV Asset Management lifted its position in Alphabet by 200.0% in the second quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 840 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $149,000 after acquiring an additional 560 shares during the last quarter. Nordwand Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $639,000. McDonough Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% in the second quarter. McDonough Capital Management Inc now owns 83,954 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $14,893,000 after acquiring an additional 2,729 shares during the period. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 8.2% during the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 18,863 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,346,000 after purchasing an additional 1,435 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup reaffirmed a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Raymond James Financial raised shares of Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $315.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Sanford C. Bernstein reiterated a “market perform” rating and set a $345.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC set a $400.00 target price on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, March 13th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $345.71.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hires Bridgewater chief scientist Jasjeet Sekhon as chief strategy officer — a high‑profile AI talent win that signals Alphabet is accelerating DeepMind’s commercial and research push vs. OpenAI/Anthropic. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s Stitch redesign and other product updates are pressuring competitors (Adobe, Figma), showing Alphabet can leverage AI to expand into new workflows and monetize developer/designer tools. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Wiz buyout expands Google Cloud’s security portfolio — strengthens competitive positioning against AWS/Azure and supports enterprise AI adoption. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is rebuilding Pentagon ties and appears well‑placed for government AI work after competitors’ controversies — a potential revenue/contract upside. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Google says it will let websites opt out of generative AI in search to address UK competition concerns — could head off regulatory risk but may limit product scope in UK markets. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet is increasing reliance on Chinese suppliers for advanced liquid cooling and may acquire a Chinese cooling firm — improves capacity for AI data centers but raises new geopolitical, export‑control and regulatory risks. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares (SEC filing) and other insider sales continue; large insider selling can spur short‑term caution among investors. Article Title
• Negative Sentiment: Broad concerns about hyperscaler AI capex — heavy spending raises questions about the pace of returns and margin/valuation pressure for big cloud/AI names (including Alphabet). Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet paid its first 2026 dividend ($0.21/share) and maintains strong analyst sentiment/price targets, which supports longer‑term investor confidence. Article Title

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.