Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Insider John Kent Walker Sells 47,574 Shares

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total transaction of $14,341,182.30. Following the transaction, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,987,279.15. This trade represents a 78.25% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

John Kent Walker also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, December 30th, John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of GOOG traded down $0.38 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $303.56. 13,371,183 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,605,828. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $320.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $278.09. 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 has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.08, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $142.66 and a 52 week high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.82 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.59 by $0.23. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.The business had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $111.24 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.15 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. 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 is 7.77%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Alphabet by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 421,013,782 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $132,114,125,000 after purchasing an additional 8,128,234 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.3% in the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 188,914,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $33,511,477,000 after buying an additional 2,428,266 shares in the last quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28,482.8% in the 4th quarter. J. Stern & Co. LLP now owns 112,091,870 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $35,174,429,000 after buying an additional 111,699,704 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 107,760,033 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,022,926,000 after buying an additional 441,177 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 100,602,893 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $31,569,189,000 after acquiring an additional 1,073,151 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

More Alphabet News

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Big AI partnerships and product wins reinforce growth thesis — Google announced partnerships to build AI tools with Sea Ltd and is rolling music‑focused generative AI (Gemini) into consumer apps, underlining continued enterprise and consumer AI monetization opportunities. Google, Shopee-owner Sea to develop AI tools Google Gemini, Apple add music-focused generative AI features
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic infrastructure and international AI push — Alphabet unveiled the America‑India Connect initiative and committed substantial funding to an AI hub, supporting long‑term cloud and data‑center demand for Google Cloud. Alphabet Unveils America-India Connect
• Positive Sentiment: Street bullishness on AI growth — Analysts and newsletters have issued upgrades and higher targets (including a Seeking Alpha/TipRanks bullish take and DZ Bank strong‑buy), which supports upside expectations for ad, cloud and Gemini monetization. Gemini and Google Cloud analysis TipRanks price-target note
• Neutral Sentiment: Product/partner news with limited near‑term revenue impact — Google launched the $499 Pixel 10a and a Google Cloud partner (Alludium) gained Select status; useful for ecosystem depth but unlikely to move near‑term earnings materially. Google debuts $499 Pixel 10a Alludium Google Cloud Select partner
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory/headline risk for Waymo — New York dropped a robotaxi expansion plan outside NYC, and Waymo faces scrutiny over remote assistance practices; any regulatory constraints or reputational hits could slow Waymo commercialization and raise costs. NY drops robotaxi proposal
• Negative Sentiment: Capital‑structure and capex concerns — Coverage flagged Alphabet’s issuance of an unusually long‑dated financing (100‑year bond) and the company’s very large AI/data‑center CapEx outlook; investors worry near‑term margins and free cash flow could be pressured even if the long‑term moat strengthens. 100-year bond analysis CapEx discussion
• Negative Sentiment: Institutional trimming & insider selling — Several funds trimmed positions in 13F filings and a director sold a small block; combined with profit‑taking after the strong run, this adds selling pressure despite longer‑term buyers. Director sale filing

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on GOOG shares. Citigroup reiterated a “market outperform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. UBS Group reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $348.00 target price (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 12th. KeyCorp set a $370.00 price target on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. DA Davidson set a $300.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, Rosenblatt Securities set a $279.00 price target on Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have assigned a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $343.90.

About Alphabet

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.