Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Insider Sells $3,142,911.42 in Stock

Key Points

• Alphabet insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares on June 29 at an average price of $349.29, totaling about $3.14 million. After the sale, he still directly owned 75,290 shares.
• GOOG traded higher to $357.89 and remains supported by strong analyst sentiment, with an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $376.78. Several firms, including TD Cowen and Goldman Sachs, recently reiterated bullish views.
• Alphabet recently raised its quarterly dividend to $0.22 per share from $0.21, equal to an annualized payout of $0.88 and a yield of about 0.2%. The company also beat quarterly earnings expectations, reporting $5.11 EPS on revenue of $109.9 billion.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) insider John Kent Walker sold 8,998 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $349.29, for a total transaction of $3,142,911.42. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 75,290 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,298,044.10. The trade was a 10.68% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG stock traded up $4.56 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $357.89. 19,444,791 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 21,903,051. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $173.88 and a one year high of $404.47. The stock has a market cap of $4.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $366.98 and a 200 day simple moving average of $332.53. The company has a current ratio of 1.92, a quick ratio of 1.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The information services provider reported $5.11 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.68 by $2.43. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $106.96 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 21.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.81 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were issued a $0.22 dividend. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 8th. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 6.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 9th. Citigroup restated a "market outperform" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, June 22nd. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $420.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reiterated an "overweight" rating and set a $435.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, June 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $376.78.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s Google Cloud and AI strategy got fresh validation from a strategic partnership with FactSet, supporting enterprise adoption of Google’s AI tools. FactSet Announces Strategic Partnership with Google Cloud to Bring Advanced AI to Financial Intelligence
• Positive Sentiment: Google launched new lower-cost AI image and video models, reinforcing its competitive position in generative AI. Google introduces a faster, cheaper image generator with Nano Banana 2 Lite
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s addition to the Dow Jones Industrial Average remains a supportive technical and sentiment boost, with potential passive-fund buying. Reuters: Alphabet debuts in Dow Jones Industrial Average as index tilts toward tech
• Positive Sentiment: Google said it has exceeded its $1 billion Africa investment target, highlighting long-term expansion efforts in infrastructure and AI. Reuters: Google has exceeded $1 billion Africa investment target
• Neutral Sentiment: Multiple reports and analyst notes continued to highlight bullish views and higher price targets for GOOG, reinforcing a favorable long-term setup.
• Negative Sentiment: A Swedish court ordered Google to pay about $1.5 billion in antitrust damages in a case tied to PriceRunner and claims of search favoritism. Reuters: Swedish court says Google is to pay $1.5 billion to Klarna in antitrust damages
• Negative Sentiment: Investors remain concerned that Alphabet’s massive AI infrastructure spending could weigh on margins and free cash flow near term. Yahoo Finance: If You Think Alphabet’s AI Spending Is High Now, Just Wait for 2028
• Negative Sentiment: Recent insider selling by Alphabet directors and executives may add a small amount of caution, even though the transactions were modest. SEC filing: Alphabet insider transaction

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Auto Owners Insurance Co boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 38,409.2% in the fourth quarter. Auto Owners Insurance Co now owns 179,836,276 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,643,262,000 after acquiring an additional 179,369,280 shares during the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP raised its holdings in Alphabet by 28,482.8% during the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $35,174,429,000 after purchasing an additional 111,699,704 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $18,093,665,000. Cardano Risk Management B.V. lifted its position in Alphabet by 850.3% during the 4th quarter. Cardano Risk Management B.V. now owns 17,692,600 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $5,551,938,000 after purchasing an additional 15,830,754 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Alphabet by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.

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