Pichai sells Alphabet shares for $10.6M: What's his stake now?
What's the story
Sundar Pichai, the CEO of Alphabet, has sold 30,521 shares in a series of transactions last week. According to disclosures filed with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (US SEC), Pichai executed 12 share sales on January 21. The transactions involved selling a total of 30,521 Class C Capital Stocks at prices ranging from $320.35 to $331.97 per share for $10.6 million.
Current holdings
Pichai's stake in Alphabet after recent share sales
After the recent transactions, Pichai's direct ownership of Alphabet's Class C Capital Stock now stands at 2,211,872 shares. This means his total stake in Google parent company Alphabet is worth around $724 million at the current share price. In addition to this, he also holds 227,560 shares of Alphabet's Class A Common Stock which are typically reserved for executives for voting rights and dividends among other things.
Market performance
Stake sale amid Alphabet's AI success
Pichai's stake sale comes as Alphabet continues to make strides in artificial intelligence (AI). Recent data shows that Google's Gemini AI has started to take market share from ChatGPT, the leading AI chatbot by OpenAI. The company is also waiting for European Union approval for its $32 billion acquisition of cloud security firm Wiz, which is expected in February.
Stock predictions
Analysts raise price targets for Alphabet stock
Amid these developments, analysts have raised their target prices for Alphabet stock. Stifel has raised its price target for Alphabet to $346 with a Buy rating, while RBC Capital has increased its target to $375 with an Outperform rating. These adjustments reflect the market's optimistic outlook on the company's future performance and growth potential in the tech industry.
Past transactions
Pichai's previous share sales and earnings
This isn't the first time Pichai has sold shares in Alphabet. On December 15, he sold 32,500 shares at an average price of $299.80 for a total value of nearly $9.74 million. He also sold another batch of 32,500 shares on December 3 at an average price of $319.50 for about $10.38 million, and a third lot on November 19 at an average price of $296.64 for approximately $9.64 million.