John Hennessy Sells 1,050 Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

March 20, 2026 by InsiderTrades.com

Key Points

Alphabet director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares on March 16 at an average price of $303.41 for $318,580.50, cutting his ownership by 18.48% to 4,631 shares (about $1.405M).
Alphabet beat recent expectations, reporting $2.82 EPS versus $2.59 expected and $113.83B in revenue (vs. $111.24B), with revenue up 18% year‑over‑year and a net margin of 32.81%.
Analysts remain bullish—MarketBeat shows a consensus "Buy" with an average price target of $345.71 and several firms raising or reiterating strong‑buy targets.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) Director John Hennessy sold 1,050 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $303.41, for a total value of $318,580.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 4,631 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,405,091.71. This represents a 18.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

Alphabet Stock Performance

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NASDAQ GOOG opened at $305.73 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.70 trillion, a P/E ratio of 28.28, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $318.27 and a 200 day simple moving average of $292.42. The company has a current ratio of 2.01, a quick ratio of 2.01 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $350.15.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 5th. The information services provider reported $2.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.59 by $0.23. The firm had revenue of $113.83 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.24 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.81% and a return on equity of 35.01%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 18.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.15 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 16th. Investors of record on Monday, March 9th were issued a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 9th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is currently 7.77%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Tradewinds LLC. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 2,134.8% during the 3rd quarter. Tradewinds LLC. now owns 45,098 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $10,984,000 after purchasing an additional 43,080 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 31.3% in the third quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 354,529 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $86,345,000 after buying an additional 84,553 shares in the last quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the third quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 221,391 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $53,920,000 after buying an additional 2,009 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.2% during the third quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 157,143 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $38,272,000 after buying an additional 3,444 shares during the period. Finally, American National Bank of Texas purchased a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $900,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Alphabet News Summary

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Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

Positive Sentiment: DeepMind hired Bridgewater’s chief scientist Jasjeet Sekhon — a high‑profile talent win that signals acceleration of DeepMind’s research/commercial push and strengthens Alphabet’s AI credentials. Google DeepMind hires Sekhon
Positive Sentiment: Google Cloud + CVS will deploy Health100 using Gemini models to push Gemini deeper into consumer healthcare — opens a large, recurring revenue opportunity across pharmacy, insurance and digital-health engagement. Health100 partnership
Positive Sentiment: Product momentum: updated Stitch / Stitch “vibe design” features are being positioned to displace incumbent design tools (market reaction hit Figma/Adobe) — signals faster product monetization and competitive leverage from AI features. Stitch update and competitive impact
Positive Sentiment: Google’s Wiz buyout strengthens Google Cloud’s security stack — makes the platform stickier for enterprise AI deployments and helps compete with AWS/Azure. Wiz buyout expands cloud security
Positive Sentiment: Google signed utility agreements to curtail power use during peak demand — reduces risk of brownouts/cost spikes as data‑center power needs grow and supports more predictable operations. Utility agreements to curb peak power
Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory tweak: Google will let sites opt out of generative AI in search in the UK — may reduce near‑term product scope there but could lessen regulatory/legal risk. UK opt‑out for generative search
Negative Sentiment: Supply‑chain & geopolitical risk: reports that Alphabet is increasingly using Chinese suppliers for advanced liquid cooling (and may acquire a Chinese cooling firm) raise export‑control and political risk for AI data‑center builds. Chinese cooling supplier ties
Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: CEO Sundar Pichai and directors have recent SEC‑filed stock sales — repeated large insider sales can spook short‑term investors even if they are pre‑planned. Insider sales disclosed
Negative Sentiment: Macro/valuation headwind: persistent questions about hyperscaler AI capex and the timeline for returns pressure multiples for cloud/AI names, including Alphabet. Capex and valuation concerns

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price objective on Alphabet in a report on Friday, December 5th. Pivotal Research restated a "buy" rating and issued a $420.00 target price (up from $400.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, February 5th. DZ Bank upgraded Alphabet to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, February 16th. UBS Group reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $348.00 price target (up from $345.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, February 12th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded Alphabet from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $315.00 to $400.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $345.71.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on GOOG

About Alphabet

(Get Free Report)

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.