Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 1.1% – Here’s What Happened

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) shares dropped 1.1% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as low as $303.71 and last traded at $305.7210. Approximately 38,194,362 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 3% from the average daily volume of 37,181,418 shares. The stock had previously closed at $309.00.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts/targets lifted — two recent price‑target increases underline bullish analyst views on Alphabet’s growth trajectory and AI positioning. Price Target $375 Price Target $380
• Positive Sentiment: Waymo operational progress — Alphabet’s Waymo is deploying 6th‑gen Ojai robotaxis and expanding driverless rides, supporting long‑term growth optionality outside advertising. Waymo Ojai deployment
• Positive Sentiment: Hyperscaler capex wave — a report highlights ~ $700B of AI capex by hyperscalers in 2026, reinforcing that Alphabet is a primary beneficiary of sustained enterprise AI demand (revenue opportunity). $700B AI CapEx wave
• Neutral Sentiment: Century‑bond demand vs. structural questions — strong demand for Alphabet’s long‑dated bonds signals investor confidence and long‑dated liability matching, but some observers flag the novelty and lack of typical bond protections (mixed credit/PR implications). Bond guardrails story 100‑year bond analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: MarketBeat analysis: pullback may be a buying opportunity — despite an earnings beat and accelerating Cloud/search metrics, the stock is digesting large 2026 CapEx guidance; view framed as potential long‑term entry if support holds. MarketBeat pullback analysis
• Negative Sentiment: EU antitrust probe into search ads — fresh European investigations target Google’s search advertising auction and pricing practices, creating regulatory/legal overhang and potential fines or changes to ad economics in Europe. EU probe Reuters EU probe Bloomberg
• Negative Sentiment: CapEx and cash‑flow concerns weigh — post‑earnings commentary and some analyst notes flagged Alphabet’s $175‑$185B 2026 CapEx plan as a driver of near‑term free‑cash‑flow strain and a reason for recent share weakness. Zacks capex note
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech rotation/bear market pressure — coverage noting Magnificent Seven weakness adds macro risk that can amplify Alphabet selloffs even when company fundamentals stay strong. Barron’s market context

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 1st. DA Davidson lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Pivotal Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $400.00 to $420.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $395.00 target price (up previously from $365.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $400.00 price target (up from $325.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-four have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $361.64.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.1%

The company has a market capitalization of $3.69 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 1.83 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The business has a fifty day moving average of $321.51 and a 200 day moving average of $273.62.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, February 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total value of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,337,229.80. This trade represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,179,372 shares in the company, valued at approximately $730,481,906.96. This trade represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 2,067,086 shares of company stock valued at $105,184,255. 11.64% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.4% in 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 acquiring an additional 12,531,695 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 4,008,374 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position 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 purchasing an additional 2,666,676 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at about $21,944,208,000. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,881,908 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,865,158,000 after purchasing an additional 774,336 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.