Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John Hennessy Sells 1,050 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $368.63, for a total transaction of $387,061.50. Following the sale, the director owned 1,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $545,941.03. The trade was a 41.49% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3%

GOOGL traded up $4.69 during trading on Thursday, hitting $368.48. The company had a trading volume of 44,419,322 shares, compared to its average volume of 31,904,299. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.11, a PEG ratio of 1.60 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $162.00 and a one year high of $408.61. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $364.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $331.35.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a return on equity of 38.99% and a net margin of 37.92%.The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s cloud and AI story got another boost after HSBC announced a multi-year partnership with Google Cloud to expand AI capabilities, reinforcing demand for Alphabet’s enterprise AI tools and cloud services.
• Positive Sentiment: Commentary from analysts and market watchers continues to highlight Alphabet’s earnings strength, growing Google Cloud backlog, and AI-driven upside, which supports the stock’s longer-term bullish case.
• Positive Sentiment: Berkshire Hathaway reportedly nearly tripled its Alphabet stake in Q1, a high-profile endorsement that may be helping investor sentiment around GOOGL.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet introduced an “AI Control Roadmap” through DeepMind to address the risks of rogue AI agents, underscoring its focus on responsible AI development rather than signaling a direct financial impact.
• Neutral Sentiment: The company also unveiled a new Google Home Speaker built around Gemini, showing continued product investment in consumer AI, though the near-term revenue impact is uncertain.
• Negative Sentiment: Top AI researcher Noam Shazeer is leaving Google DeepMind/Gemini to join OpenAI, a symbolic loss in the AI talent war that could pressure sentiment around Alphabet’s competitiveness in frontier AI.
• Negative Sentiment: Waymo recalled about 3,900 robotaxis after software issues caused vehicles to enter freeway construction zones, raising fresh concerns about execution risks in Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle unit.
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators also increased scrutiny of Google Search with new fairness and transparency requirements, adding to the regulatory overhang on Alphabet’s core business.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Dbs Bank lifted their target price on Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 19th. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $390.00 to $360.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $413.13.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lifetime Wealth Management P.C. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. EMC Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $33,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. Finally, Bard Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $52,000. 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.