Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1.4% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Alphabet shares fell 1.4% on Monday, trading as low as $360.53 after closing at $368.53, with volume running below average.
• Investor concern is centered on Alphabet’s large AI and infrastructure spending plan, which has raised worries about dilution, margin pressure, and slower near-term earnings growth.
• Despite the pullback, analysts remain broadly bullish: the stock has a Moderate Buy consensus with an average price target of $413.13, and recent quarterly results beat expectations on both earnings and revenue.

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) were down 1.4% on Monday . The company traded as low as $360.53 and last traded at $363.31. Approximately 27,709,643 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 13% from the average daily volume of 32,008,055 shares. The stock had previously closed at $368.53.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s cloud and AI footprint continues to expand, with reporting that SpaceX signed a more than $30 billion cloud services deal with Google, highlighting demand for Alphabet’s infrastructure and AI capabilities. Why Google May Have Handed SpaceX The Perfect IPO Catalyst
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet is also benefiting from its role in autonomous driving, as Waymo remains a key competitor in the emerging robotaxi market and continues to attract investor attention around self-driving expansion. Uber, Wayve and Waymo are headed towards a robotaxi showdown in London
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet is drawing increased investor attention, with several articles noting the stock is trending and that analysts are revisiting the company’s AI and earnings outlook. Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL) Is a Trending Stock: Facts to Know Before Betting on It
• Neutral Sentiment: The company is expected to continue paying dividends, which may help support the shares, but the announcement itself is not likely a major short-term catalyst. Google to pay dividends next week; Here's how much 100 GOOGL shares will earn
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet shares are falling as investors focus on the company’s aggressive plan to raise capital and ramp AI infrastructure spending, which raises concerns about dilution, margin pressure, and slower near-term earnings growth. What's Going On With Alphabet Stock?
• Negative Sentiment: Commentary from Mike Novogratz calling Alphabet’s stock sale a possible market-top signal may have added to broader investor caution around large-cap AI names. Alphabet's $80 billion stock sale is a possible market top signal, Mike Novogratz says

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on GOOGL shares. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $420.00 to $460.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 6th. Tigress Financial set a $415.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Thursday, February 19th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Truist Financial set a $430.00 price target on shares of Alphabet and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $413.13.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.4%

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.40 trillion, a PE ratio of 27.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16. The company's 50-day moving average is $352.70 and its 200 day moving average is $328.11.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.98 billion. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.29 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th will be paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend 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 dividend payout ratio is 6.71%.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In related news, major shareholder 2019 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 87,475 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Friday, May 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $23.75, for a total value of $2,077,531.25. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CAO Amie Thuener O'toole sold 617 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $289.63, for a total transaction of $178,701.71. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 10,093 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,923,235.59. This trade represents a 5.76% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold 193,016 shares of company stock worth $17,282,549 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 11.61% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $416,217,000. NewEdge Wealth LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.8% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Wealth LLC now owns 887,209 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $277,696,000 after buying an additional 93,293 shares in the last quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 23.6% during the third quarter. Sovran Advisors LLC now owns 22,219 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,401,000 after buying an additional 4,241 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 274,761 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $86,000,000 after buying an additional 23,107 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Belpointe Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 5.4% during the third quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 72,608 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $17,652,000 after buying an additional 3,740 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.

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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