Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 2% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price traded down 2% during trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $328.52 and last traded at $333.04. 64,497,395 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 97% from the average session volume of 32,744,967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $339.71.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 933 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $336.55, for a total transaction of $314,001.15. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 9,916 shares in the company, valued at $3,337,229.80. This represents a 8.60% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, major shareholder 2017 Gp L.L.C. Gv sold 1,845,308 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.00, for a total value of $35,060,852.00. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In other news, Director Frances Arnold sold 102 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $340.00, for a total value of $34,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 18,307 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,224,380. This represents a 0.55% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $375.00 to $400.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $400.00 to $410.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Wedbush lifted their target price on Alphabet from $360.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group set a $348.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, New Street Research raised their price objective on Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a research report on Friday, October 24th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have given a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $354.86.

Alphabet News Roundup

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet reported another beat: Q4 EPS and revenue topped estimates, Google Cloud grew ~48% Y/Y and annual revenue exceeded $400B—clear fundamental drivers for longer‑term growth. Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple Wall Street firms raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the results, supporting upside case (examples include Deutsche Bank, RBC, Needham and others). Read More.
• Positive Sentiment: Commercial traction for AI and subscriptions continues (Gemini user metrics, YouTube/Google One paid subs), reinforcing monetization of AI investments over time. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Alphabet announced a small quarterly dividend ($0.21/share)—signal of returning capital but limited near‑term impact on valuation. Read More.
• Neutral Sentiment: Insider selling (CAO sold ~933 shares) and mixed analyst notes (some neutral ratings) create potential short‑term noise; institutional positioning remains large. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: The 2026 capex outlook—$175B–$185B—shocked markets; investors fear near‑term margin/earnings dilution and a multi‑year heavy cash outflow, prompting an after‑hours/pre‑market selloff. Read More.
• Negative Sentiment: Market reaction: shares fell sharply in pre‑market/early trading as tech indexes pulled back, reflecting short‑term risk aversion to large AI spending even as fundamentals remain solid. Read More.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a current ratio of 1.75 and a quick ratio of 1.75. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $321.54 and a 200-day simple moving average of $269.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 30.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.01 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 36.21%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 142.9% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Trust Co now owns 170 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.