Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director Sells $23,288.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Alphabet director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares at an average price of $284, generating $23,288; she still directly owns 19,157 shares worth approximately $5.44 million.
• Alphabet shares fell to $279.84, near their 52-week low, after quarterly adjusted earnings of $2.12 per share and revenue of $127.58 billion both missed analyst expectations.
• Despite the earnings miss and lowered price targets from several analysts, Wall Street’s consensus remains “Buy”, with an average price target of $410.46.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) Director Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 29th. The shares were sold at an average price of $284.00, for a total transaction of $23,288.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 19,157 shares in the company, valued at $5,440,588. This represents a 0.43% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Frances Arnold also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, September 30th, Frances Arnold sold 83 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.45, for a total transaction of $28,257.35.
• On Friday, August 28th, Frances Arnold sold 82 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $337.71, for a total transaction of $27,692.22.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock traded down $3.98 on Friday, hitting $279.84. 65,453,789 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 30,908,804. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.19, a current ratio of 2.79 and a quick ratio of 2.64. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $270.70 and a 52 week high of $408.61. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $339.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $340.17. The firm has a market cap of $3.42 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.81, a PEG ratio of 0.83 and a beta of 1.21.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.02 by ($0.90). Alphabet had a return on equity of 43.33% and a net margin of 50.03%. The firm had revenue of $127.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $127.96 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 20.40 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $375.00 target price (down from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday. Benchmark reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 1st. Wedbush lowered their price target on Alphabet from $445.00 to $387.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada dropped their price target on Alphabet from $425.00 to $400.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Zacks Research lowered shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 11th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-six have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $410.46.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud revenue more than doubled year over year to approximately $30.7 billion, while its backlog reached $561 billion. The results support Alphabet’s position as a major beneficiary of enterprise AI demand. Alphabet's Cloud Business Just Doubled
• Positive Sentiment: Several analysts remain constructive after the selloff. Guggenheim and Needham reaffirmed “buy” ratings with $450 targets, while Citigroup and Wells Fargo retained bullish ratings and projected substantial upside despite lowering their targets.
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s AI ecosystem could gain from rising demand for cloud capacity and specialized chips. Waymo is also expanding internationally through a partnership with Toyota, although the business remains small relative to Alphabet’s core operations. Waymo taps Toyota to supply robotaxis
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple securities law firms publicized class-action lawsuits and lead-plaintiff deadlines tied to alleged disclosures about Alphabet’s Gemini AI development. These notices add headline risk, but their direct financial impact remains uncertain.
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet reported adjusted earnings of $2.12 per share, below consensus near $2.94-$3.02, while revenue of $127.6 billion also missed expectations. Search and other revenue grew about 12% to roughly $63 billion, but fell short of forecasts, reinforcing fears that AI-generated answers and “AI mode” searches may monetize less effectively than traditional Search.
• Negative Sentiment: AI infrastructure spending caused free cash flow to remain negative by roughly $9.1 billion for a second consecutive quarter. Investors are questioning whether the enormous capital outlays will produce adequate returns and whether Alphabet may need additional debt or equity financing.
• Negative Sentiment: An unrealized loss on Alphabet’s SpaceX investment reduced quarterly earnings by approximately $0.55 per share, while an EU antitrust fine further pressured results. Analysts including RBC, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, Wedbush, KeyCorp and Cantor Fitzgerald lowered price targets, even though most maintained positive ratings.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 238,977,259 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $85,403,303,000 after purchasing an additional 12,718,127 shares during the last quarter. Amundi lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Amundi now owns 33,203,350 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $11,865,809,000 after purchasing an additional 1,457,371 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% during the second quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 17,724,321 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $6,334,186,000 after purchasing an additional 1,631,721 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 7.1% during the first quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 17,079,800 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,911,467,000 after purchasing an additional 1,139,400 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 90.9% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 17,040,373 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $4,900,078,000 after purchasing an additional 8,112,680 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

Alphabet Inc is a technology holding company best known for its Google subsidiary. Google operates a global internet-services business centered on online search, digital advertising, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Google Maps, Google Play, and a broad range of cloud-based productivity and collaboration tools.

Google Cloud provides infrastructure, data analytics, cybersecurity, artificial intelligence, and enterprise software services to businesses, governments, and other organizations. Alphabet also develops consumer hardware, including Pixel devices and products for connected homes, while investing in emerging businesses through its “Other Bets” segment, including autonomous transportation and life sciences initiatives.

Alphabet was established in 2015 as part of a corporate restructuring that made Google a subsidiary and provided a separate structure for its expanding portfolio of businesses.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.