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

Posted by Bonnie Powley on May 20th, 2026

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 2,531 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $995,341.06. This represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Alphabet Trading Down 2.3%

Shares of GOOGL traded down $9.28 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $387.66. 39,436,564 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 28,149,802. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $162.00 and a 52-week high of $408.61. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $333.00 and a 200 day simple moving average of $319.32. The firm has a market cap of $4.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a current ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL – Get Free Report) 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. The company had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. On average, research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be given a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a boost from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 6.41%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $416,217,000. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 23.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,401,000 after purchasing an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors grew its stake in Alphabet by 9.2% during the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $86,000,000 after purchasing an additional 23,107 shares in the last quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc. now owns 50,064 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $12,171,000 after purchasing an additional 8,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,652,000 after purchasing an additional 3,740 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

Positive Sentiment: Alphabet and Blackstone announced a $5 billion AI infrastructure joint venture to build TPU-powered cloud capacity, which could deepen demand for Google’s custom chips and expand its AI ecosystem. Google, Blackstone to create new AI cloud company, WSJ reports
Positive Sentiment: Google I/O showcased a broad AI push across Search, Gemini, Workspace, shopping, and video tools, reinforcing the idea that Alphabet is monetizing AI rather than just defending against rivals. Google debuts new AI models, personal AI agents in effort to keep pace with OpenAI and Anthropic
Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains constructive, with Arete Research lifting its price target to $425 and maintaining a buy rating, signaling continued upside expectations. Arete Research adjusts price target on Alphabet to $425 from $405
Positive Sentiment: Alphabet said Gemini now has 900 million monthly users and AI Overviews has 2.5 billion monthly users, suggesting its AI products are already reaching scale. Google kicks off I/O conference with AI upgrades for coders, consumers
Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet disclosed insider sales by a major shareholder, but the transactions appear routine and are not, by themselves, a strong fundamental signal. SEC filing
Negative Sentiment: Some investors are uneasy that Google’s AI-heavy search redesign could disrupt the company’s core ad model, especially as the “ten blue links” era fades. Google Search as you know it is over
Negative Sentiment: There is also headline risk from broader scrutiny around platform responsibility and YouTube youth-safety issues, which may keep some investors cautious. Alphabet’s $5 Trillion Milestone: How AI Ambitions Are Fueling Google’s Record Run

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have issued reports on GOOGL. Dbs Bank raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $460.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $410.00 to $435.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 30th. Freedom Capital cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $411.23.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on GOOGL

About Alphabet

(Get Free Report)

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.