Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 2.5% – Should You Sell?

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price traded down 2.5% on Wednesday . The stock traded as low as $362.02 and last traded at $363.79. 23,814,678 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 25% from the average session volume of 31,788,359 shares. The stock had previously closed at $373.25.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google Cloud business announced new AI-related partnerships, including a multi-year deal with HSBC to expand AI usage and another partnership with Ineffable Intelligence, reinforcing demand for Google’s cloud and AI infrastructure. Reuters: HSBC partners with Google Cloud to expand AI usage
• Positive Sentiment: Google also continued rolling out Gemini-powered products, including a new smart home speaker and Android 17 features, which supports the company’s AI platform strategy and could help future hardware and ecosystem adoption. TechCrunch: Google bets on Gemini to reinvent the smart home speaker
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet’s CEO and Google DeepMind leadership joined other top AI executives at the G7 to push for a U.S.-led AI coalition, highlighting the company’s influence in the global AI debate but offering no immediate financial impact. CNBC: CEOs of Anthropic and Google DeepMind call for U.S.-led AI coalition in meeting at G7
• Neutral Sentiment: Several analyst-style articles remained constructive on Alphabet’s long-term AI and cloud prospects, but they also flagged high capital spending, competition, and valuation concerns. Zacks: Alphabet Drops 6% in a Month
• Negative Sentiment: Britain’s competition watchdog imposed new conduct requirements on Google search, adding regulatory pressure around search ranking fairness and transparency and raising concerns about future oversight of Alphabet’s core business. Reuters: UK regulator sets out conduct requirements for Google’s search services

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $395.00 to $465.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $430.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price target (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Needham & Company LLC restated a “buy” rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, June 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $4.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 27.75, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $363.48 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $331.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total transaction of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $381.00, for a total transaction of $38,862.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,721 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,132,701. This trade represents a 0.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 159,466 shares of company stock valued at $6,957,543. Insiders own 11.61% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake 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 worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 229,954,269 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,524,841,000 after buying an additional 4,008,374 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 146,193,037 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,625,595,000 after buying an additional 2,666,676 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,534,239,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in Alphabet by 4.9% in the fourth quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 69,108,183 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $21,630,861,000 after purchasing an additional 3,218,852 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is 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.