Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sells $9,877,400.00 in Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total transaction of $9,877,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,818,524 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $856,605,814.08. This trade represents a 1.14% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

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

• On Wednesday, February 4th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $335.18, for a total transaction of $10,893,350.00.
• On Wednesday, January 21st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $327.30, for a total transaction of $10,637,250.00.
• On Wednesday, January 7th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were 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 value of $9,743,500.00.
• On Wednesday, December 3rd, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total value of $10,383,750.00.

Alphabet Trading Up 3.7%

NASDAQ GOOG opened at $314.90 on Monday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $350.15. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average price is $320.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $280.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.13, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.10.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The company had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $111.24 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Key Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts and brokers have raised price targets and highlighted AI/cloud upside (UBS, Canaccord), citing Gemini adoption and generative‑AI capex that could add meaningful cloud revenue. UBS generative AI capex note
• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet committed to a major $15B America‑India Connect initiative and announced partnerships (Zillow, Sea) that expand Gemini/Cloud into verticals — positive for long‑term cloud/ads monetization and market reach. America-India Connect announcement
• Positive Sentiment: Notable institutional buying from hedge funds (e.g., Appaloosa/Tepper, Altimeter, Viking) signals conviction in Alphabet’s AI/Cloud thesis and can support the stock through execution milestones. Appaloosa increases stake
• Neutral Sentiment: Product demos (Gemini AI coach, music features) and consumer launches (Pixel device with AI features) improve user engagement and positioning but are not immediate revenue drivers. Gemini demo on CNBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Reported short‑interest data for February shows anomalies (zeros/NaN) and provides no clear bearish signal at present; treat the statistic cautiously until reconciled.
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: senior execs disclosed sizable sales (Sundar Pichai, John Kent Walker), which markets often view as a modest near‑term negative signal despite normal tax/liquidity reasons. Pichai sale filing Walker sale filing
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/IP risk: prosecutors have charged engineers in an alleged scheme to steal Google trade secrets and pass files abroad — reputational and security concerns that could invite regulatory scrutiny. Trade-secrets indictment
• Negative Sentiment: Execution/supply risks: DeepMind’s CEO warned that memory‑chip shortages constrain agentic AI research/deployment, which could slow rollout timing or raise costs for compute‑intensive initiatives. DeepMind chip shortage comments
• Negative Sentiment: Several institutional investors disclosed trims (Pershing Square, Longview, others). Broad portfolio rebalancing can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if longer‑term AI momentum remains. Pershing Square trim

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the period. Ignite Planners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.0% during the second quarter. Ignite Planners LLC now owns 14,506 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,697,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 7.4% during the second quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 594,959 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $105,540,000 after buying an additional 41,132 shares in the last quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the second quarter. Joseph P. Lucia & Associates LLC now owns 3,134 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $556,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the period. Finally, Alpha Wealth Funds LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $2,318,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on GOOG. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet from a “moderate buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, November 7th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 1st. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, January 5th. TD Cowen reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $365.00 price target (up from $355.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $343.90.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.