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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,818,524 shares in the company, valued at $856,605,814.08. This trade represents a 1.14% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

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

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

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $314.98 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $320.32 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.09. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $349.00.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company 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. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus reissued a “buy” rating and set a $395.00 price target (up from $346.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on Alphabet from $333.00 to $380.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 10th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Finally, DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, February 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $365.86.

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Strategic cloud partnerships expanding addressable market — Google announced a deal with Sea Ltd to build AI tools for e‑commerce and gaming, which supports Google Cloud revenue growth in Southeast Asia and demonstrates enterprise demand for its AI stack. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Product momentum — Google is rolling Gemini‑powered, music‑focused generative‑AI features (also showing up at competitors), indicating faster consumer AI adoption that could boost engagement and future monetization. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Institutional support & analyst upgrades — recent 13F activity and analyst price‑target increases (and MarketBeat coverage) signal long‑term investor conviction that can underpin the stock. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: AI infrastructure arms race — NVIDIA–Meta mega‑deal and hyperscaler capex plans validate AI demand but raise competitive and capital‑intensity questions for Google; this is demand‑positive but increases the investment bar. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet exploring chip/partner strategies — WSJ reports Google is weighing ways to use its balance sheet to better compete with chip suppliers, a strategic move that could reduce long‑run costs or distract management depending on execution. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling — recent disclosed sales by CEO Sundar Pichai and senior exec John Kent Walker (multi‑million dollar sales) can sap near‑term sentiment even if routine for compensation/liquidity reasons. Read More. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Security/legal risk — indictment of three engineers accused of stealing Google trade secrets and sending data to Iran raises potential IP, litigation and reputational risks that investors will watch. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: AI rotation/profit‑taking — some prominent managers have trimmed AI positions in recent 13F filings, which contributes to episodic pressure on hyperscaler multiples. Read More.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Brighton Jones LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the period. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9.6% in the 2nd quarter. Hutchens & Kramer Investment Management Group LLC now owns 4,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $862,000 after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the last quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 17.6% in the 2nd quarter. Matrix Asset Advisors Inc. NY now owns 3,888 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $685,000 after purchasing an additional 581 shares during the period. Finally, CV Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. CV Advisors LLC now owns 77,707 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,694,000 after purchasing an additional 1,494 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.