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 dated Monday, March 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 4,631 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $307.13 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $318.17 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $291.96. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.72 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.41, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The company had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were paid a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 7.77%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Symmetry Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Symmetry Partners LLC now owns 7,912 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,476,000 after buying an additional 30 shares during the period. Members Trust Co raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. Members Trust Co now owns 6,434 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,014,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Altfest L J & Co. Inc. now owns 7,952 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,489,000 after acquiring an additional 31 shares in the last quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Insight 2811 Inc. now owns 3,124 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $978,000 after acquiring an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, LJI Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. LJI Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,265 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,274,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market outperform” rating and set a $385.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wedbush increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $367.18.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hires Bridgewater’s chief scientist Jasjeet Sekhon as chief strategy officer — a notable AI talent win that reinforces Alphabet’s product roadmap and competitive positioning in AI. Reuters: Sekhon to join DeepMind
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s Wiz acquisition expands Google Cloud’s security portfolio, strengthening the Cloud growth narrative that underpins future revenue diversification. Zacks: GOOGL’s Wiz buyout
• Positive Sentiment: Regulatory concession: Google will let sites opt out of generative AI search features in the UK — reduces near‑term regulatory risk to search revenue. Reuters: Google to allow AI opt‑out
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares and director John Hennessy sold a smaller stake — notable but small relative to total insider holdings; monitor for pattern. InsiderTrades: Pichai sale
• Neutral Sentiment: Short‑interest data in feeds appears anomalous/zero and does not indicate a meaningful short build or squeeze at present.
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/valuation headwinds: analysts flag $410B+ hyperscaler AI capex and uncertainty over returns, a theme that keeps pressure on tech multiples (including Alphabet). Fool: Reason tech stocks struggle
• Negative Sentiment: Competitive/market pressure: analyst pieces note rising competition in cloud analytics (Snowflake) and product battles that could temper near‑term share gains despite execution. Zacks: Snowflake vs Alphabet

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.