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

Key Points

• Alphabet director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares on May 15 at an average price of $393.26, cutting his stake by 29.32% to 2,531 shares, according to an SEC filing.
• Alphabet beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $5.11 EPS versus the $2.64 consensus and revenue of $109.90 billion, while maintaining strong profitability metrics.
• Analysts remain largely bullish on GOOGL, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $411.23, even as the stock traded near record highs around $387.66.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $393.26, for a total value of $412,923.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 2,531 shares in the company, valued at $995,341.06. The trade was a 29.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL traded down $9.28 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $387.66. The company had a trading volume of 39,436,564 shares, 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 company has a quick ratio of 1.92, a current ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.57, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.26. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $333.00 and a two-hundred day moving average of $319.32.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $106.98 billion. On average, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Investors of record on Monday, June 8th will be issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 8th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's payout ratio is currently 6.41%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,534,239,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $4,338,397,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 855.3% during the fourth quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 14,525,280 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,546,413,000 after buying an additional 13,004,828 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 528,969,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $165,567,398,000 after buying an additional 12,531,695 shares during the period. Finally, Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $12,910,542,000 after buying an additional 11,605,785 shares during the period. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GOOGL. DA Davidson upped their price target on Alphabet from $300.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Rosenblatt Securities upped their price target on Alphabet from $357.00 to $393.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, May 4th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Alphabet from $330.00 to $375.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 30th. Finally, New Street Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $380.00 to $450.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, May 4th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $411.23.

Key Alphabet News

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

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.

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