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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider John Kent Walker sold 47,574 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $301.45, for a total value of $14,341,182.30. Following the sale, the insider owned 13,227 shares in the company, valued at $3,987,279.15. The trade was a 78.25% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total value of $5,614,173.81.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $0.38 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $303.56. 13,371,183 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 23,605,828. The company has a market capitalization of $3.67 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a quick ratio of 2.01, a current ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $350.15. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $320.86 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $278.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its 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 $2.59 by $0.23. The business had revenue of $113.83 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.01% and a net margin of 32.81%.Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 currently 7.77%.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on GOOG. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $395.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Guggenheim reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $375.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, December 1st. HSBC restated a “buy” rating and set a $335.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Alphabet from $385.00 to $395.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Pivotal Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 price objective (up previously from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-eight have given a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $343.90.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

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

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.