Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 3.2% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) dropped 3.2% on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $296.12 and last traded at $296.72. Approximately 43,242,083 shares were traded during trading, an increase of 18% from the average daily volume of 36,699,770 shares. The stock had previously closed at $306.57.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $184,914.00. Following the sale, the director owned 3,916 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,206,872.04. This represents a 13.29% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total value of $9,743,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,239,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $671,437,776.20. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total value of $867,569.40. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer directly owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This represents a 23.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Citic Securities upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $230.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 3rd. China Renaissance upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 31st. Cantor Fitzgerald increased their price objective on Alphabet from $265.00 to $310.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Citigroup boosted their target price on Alphabet from $343.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on Alphabet from $335.00 to $370.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $315.90.

Key Headlines Impacting Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud locked an expanded, multibillion-dollar strategic deal with Palo Alto Networks — reported by Reuters as “approaching $10 billion” — which materially strengthens Cloud revenue outlook and security services momentum. Google Cloud lands deal with Palo Alto Networks
• Positive Sentiment: Citigroup raised its price target to $350 and kept a Buy rating — a notable analyst upgrade that signals upward earnings/valuation expectations and supports short‑term buying interest. Citigroup adjusts price target on Alphabet
• Positive Sentiment: Google reports strong talent flows in AI — ~20% of 2025 AI software engineer hires were “boomerangs” (ex‑employees) — which investors view as a competitive advantage in the AI arms race vs. OpenAI/Anthropic/Meta. Google’s boomerang year
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/trading signals flagged a Power Inflow alert (benzinga), which can attract short‑term momentum traders but is not a fundamental catalyst. GOOG Hits Intraday High After Key Trading Signal
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage and thematic stories (Zacks, cloud lists, MarketBeat pieces) are keeping retail/institutional attention on GOOGL as a core cloud and AI holding — supporting flows but not an immediate earnings surprise. Alphabet is a trending stock (Zacks)
• Negative Sentiment: A Spanish consumer group has launched preliminary legal action alleging sensitive data collection and privacy violations — an escalation that could lead to fines or longer-term compliance costs. Spanish consumer group seeks to sue Google in data row
• Negative Sentiment: Mexico’s antitrust authority ordered Google to drop certain Android restrictions — another regulatory action that can pressure mobile‑related revenue/margins and raises the risk of further regional remedies. Mexico’s antitrust commission resolves Android case
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider stock sales were disclosed this week (CEO Sundar Pichai and other executives/directors sold shares), which can be viewed negatively by some investors even if sales are routine or for diversification/tax reasons. SEC filing: Sundar Pichai insider sale

Alphabet Trading Up 1.6%

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $289.19 and a two-hundred day moving average of $233.80. The company has a market capitalization of $3.71 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.29, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 8.28%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 36.4% during the second 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 purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at approximately $53,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth approximately $53,000. Finally, Corsicana & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $54,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other 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.