Sundar Pichai Sells 32,500 Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,818,524 shares in the company, valued at approximately $856,605,814.08. This represents a 1.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Sundar Pichai also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, February 4th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00.
• On Wednesday, January 21st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00.
• On Wednesday, January 7th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total transaction of $10,439,325.00.
• On Monday, December 15th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total transaction of $9,743,500.00.
• On Wednesday, December 3rd, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.7%

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $314.90 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $350.15. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $320.95 and its 200 day moving average is $279.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of Alphabet from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and upped their price target for the company from $315.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Scotiabank reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $400.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Loop Capital raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 18th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and brokers have raised price targets and highlighted AI/cloud upside (UBS, Canaccord), citing Gemini adoption and generative‑AI capex that could add meaningful cloud revenue. UBS generative AI capex note
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet committed to a major $15B America‑India Connect initiative and announced partnerships (Zillow, Sea) that expand Gemini/Cloud into verticals — positive for long‑term cloud/ads monetization and market reach. America-India Connect announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Notable institutional buying from hedge funds (e.g., Appaloosa/Tepper, Altimeter, Viking) signals conviction in Alphabet’s AI/Cloud thesis and can support the stock through execution milestones. Appaloosa increases stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Product demos (Gemini AI coach, music features) and consumer launches (Pixel device with AI features) improve user engagement and positioning but are not immediate revenue drivers. Gemini demo on CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for February shows anomalies (zeros/NaN) and provides no clear bearish signal at present; treat the statistic cautiously until reconciled.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior execs disclosed sizable sales (Sundar Pichai, John Kent Walker), which markets often view as a modest near‑term negative signal despite normal tax/liquidity reasons. Pichai sale filing Walker sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/IP risk: prosecutors have charged engineers in an alleged scheme to steal Google trade secrets and pass files abroad — reputational and security concerns that could invite regulatory scrutiny. Trade-secrets indictment
• Negative Sentiment: Execution/supply risks: DeepMind’s CEO warned that memory‑chip shortages constrain agentic AI research/deployment, which could slow rollout timing or raise costs for compute‑intensive initiatives. DeepMind chip shortage comments
• Negative Sentiment: Several institutional investors disclosed trims (Pershing Square, Longview, others). Broad portfolio rebalancing can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if longer‑term AI momentum remains. Pershing Square trim

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. University of Illinois Foundation bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Imprint Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $31,000. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Horrell Capital Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 100.0% in the 2nd quarter. Horrell Capital Management Inc. now owns 200 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LGT Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $37,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOG) is a multinational technology holding company headquartered in Mountain View, California. Formed in 2015 through a corporate restructuring of Google, Alphabet serves as the parent to Google LLC and a portfolio of businesses collectively known as “Other Bets.” Google was originally founded in 1998 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin; Alphabet is led by CEO Sundar Pichai, who oversees Google and the broader company while the founders remain prominent shareholders and influential figures in the company’s history.

Alphabet’s core business centers on internet search and advertising, with Google Search and the company’s ad platforms (including Google Ads and AdSense) generating the majority of revenue by connecting advertisers with consumers worldwide.