Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sells $10,893,350.00 in Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total value of $10,893,350.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,179,372 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $730,481,906.96. This represents a 1.47% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Sundar Pichai also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, January 21st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total value of $10,637,250.00.
• On Wednesday, January 7th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $321.21, for a total value of $10,439,325.00.
• On Monday, December 15th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total transaction of $9,743,500.00.
• On Wednesday, December 3rd, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00.
• On Wednesday, November 19th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total transaction of $9,640,800.00.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $322.86 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a current ratio of 2.01. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $321.60 and its 200-day simple moving average is $271.29. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $349.00. The firm has a market cap of $3.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.57 by $0.25. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on GOOGL shares. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $375.00 price objective (up from $330.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, January 13th. Wolfe Research increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $380.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Roth Mkm lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $395.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $350.00 to $390.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $357.46.

Key Stories Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet beat Q4 estimates with $113.8B revenue, $2.82 EPS, huge Google Cloud growth (48% y/y) and milestone annual revenue above $400B — evidence that AI and ads are driving durable top‑line momentum. Alphabet Crushes Earnings Again, Reports 48% Cloud Revenue Growth
• Positive Sentiment: Gemini/product adoption and a surging cloud backlog (reported at ~$240B) support longer‑term revenue leverage from AI investments — a structural growth argument investors and many analysts are citing. Google goes from laggard to leader as it pulls ahead of OpenAI with stellar AI growth
• Positive Sentiment: Multiple brokers raised price targets and reiterated buy/outperform views after the quarter (e.g., Citigroup, JPMorgan, RBC, Needham, Mizuho), providing analyst support under the share price. Multiple analyst price target raises (Benzinga)
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short interest data shows no meaningful short position change (reads as negligible/quiet on short‑selling activity), so moves are likely driven by flows and sentiment rather than a short squeeze.
• Neutral Sentiment: ETF/sector flows and inclusion chatter (new Big Tech ETFs) can amplify moves in GOOGL but are not company‑specific catalysts. Big Tech Core: New Burney ETF Packs Apple, Nvidia, Google, Broadcom Punch
• Negative Sentiment: Alphabet guided to $175–$185B of capex for 2026 (aimed at AI compute and cloud), a shockingly large jump that has investors fretting about near‑term free cash flow and returns on incremental AI spend — the dominant proximate cause of recent weakness. Alphabet resets the bar for AI infrastructure spending (CNBC)
• Negative Sentiment: Wider market narrative: fears about excessive AI capex are prompting a tech sell‑off (FactSet noted >$1T wiped from big‑tech), which weighs on Alphabet alongside company‑specific capex concerns. Big Tech sees over $1 trillion wiped from stocks as fears of AI bubble ignite sell-off
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling was reported after the quarter, adding near‑term pressure on sentiment. Alphabet Shares Down After Insider Selling
• Negative Sentiment: Employee protests over Google Cloud contracts with immigration agencies pose reputational/legal risk that can create headline volatility. Google Workers Demand End to Cloud Services for Immigration Agencies

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter valued at $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 36.4% during the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after purchasing an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at about $53,000. Finally, Kentucky Trust Co boosted its stake 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 valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.