Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sells $9,859,850.00 in Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.38, for a total value of $9,859,850.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,674,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $508,028,012.80. This trade represents a 1.90% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

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

• On Wednesday, February 18th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $303.92, for a total value of $9,877,400.00.
• 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 shares were 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 transaction 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.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL opened at $298.80 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.61 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.10. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $319.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $286.87. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $349.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced 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 $2.57 by $0.25. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 7.77%.

Alphabet News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Large cloud commercial win — CVS will deploy an AI‑enabled health platform on Google Cloud, validating enterprise demand for recurring cloud/AI revenue and supporting the Google Cloud/Gemini growth story. CVS taps Google Cloud
• Positive Sentiment: AI partnership continuity — Google said Anthropic will remain available for non‑defense projects after DoD actions, limiting disruption to Alphabet’s access to Anthropic models and enterprise AI offerings. Google says Anthropic remains available
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and institutional support — Robert W. Baird lifted its price target to $380 and other firms have boosted targets/ratings recently, reinforcing buy narratives and upside vs. the current price. Baird raises price target
• Neutral Sentiment: Small insider sales — filings show modest sales by a director and the CAO; routine disclosures that markets note but are not large enough to signal strategic conviction changes. SEC filing — insider sales
• Neutral Sentiment: Market commentary on recent pullback — coverage (e.g., Zacks) highlights the stock’s slide since earnings and asks whether it can rebound, offering investor viewpoints but no new company fundamentals. Zacks — can it rebound?
• Negative Sentiment: Legal/PR overhang: a wrongful‑death lawsuit alleges harmful guidance from the Gemini chatbot, raising potential liability, regulatory scrutiny and reputational risk for Alphabet’s core AI investment thesis. Gemini wrongful‑death lawsuit
• Negative Sentiment: Autonomous‑vehicle scrutiny — the NHTSA/NHTSA‑led safety forum and ongoing probes into Waymo incidents increase regulatory risk and operational uncertainty for the self‑driving unit. NHTSA self‑driving safety forum
• Negative Sentiment: App store revenue pressure — a settlement with Epic lowered Play Store commission rates (to ~20% + up to 5%), which could modestly reduce Play‑ecosystem take rates and near‑term revenue. Play Store commission cut
• Negative Sentiment: Macro/geopolitical pressure — recent tensions and tech pullbacks in affected markets (e.g., Dubai exposure) are weighing on large‑cap tech multiples, contributing to negative sentiment around GOOGL. Tech offices respond to U.S.-Iran tensions

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. PMV Capital Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. IFC & Insurance Marketing Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $38,000. Bard Associates Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter worth about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Robert W. Baird raised their price objective on Alphabet from $375.00 to $380.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. UBS Group set a $348.00 target price on shares of Alphabet and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Argus raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $365.00 to $385.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, February 6th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $415.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating and set a $370.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-three have assigned a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $367.18.

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.