Congressman Sold Alphabet Stock Three Months After Buying It, and He Might Have Lost Money

Chris Katje

Sun, August 30, 2026 at 10:31 PM GMT+3 4 min read

GOOG +1.53%

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Retail investors continue to monitor the trading activity of members of Congress, especially when they buy stocks and then sell them several months later. Here's a look at a three-month trade that may have actually turned into a loss for a member of congress.

Congressman Buys and Sells Alphabet Stock

Rep. Michael Rulli (R-Ohio) recently disclosed selling Alphabet Class A stock, as reported by the Benzinga Government Trades page.

The congressman disclosed selling $50,000 to $100,000 worth of Alphabet stock on Aug. 24. That transaction likely included Alphabet shares bought just two months earlier and may have included additional Alphabet shares as well.

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Rulli previously disclosed the following:

June 25: Bought $1,000 to $15,000 in GOOGL shares
June 29: Bought $1,000 to $15,000 in GOOGL shares

On those respective days, here were the trading ranges for GOOGL stock and the number of shares that Rulli could have bought:

June 25: $335.84 to $345.57, 43.41 to 44.66 GOOGL shares
June 29: $340.67 to $354.35, 42.33 to 44.03 GOOGL shares

This would mean the congressman bought between 85.74 and 88.69 GOOGL shares. Alphabet stock traded between $342.349 and $351.60 on Aug. 24.

Assuming the congressman bought $15,000 worth of GOOGL shares each June transaction, here's a look at how much he made based on the various share counts.

85.74 GOOGL shares: $29,365.09 to $30,146.18
88.69 GOOGL shares: $30,375.44 to $31,183.40

Depending on where in each day's trading range the buys and the sale landed, the June-purchased shares were worth between $29,365.09 and $31,183.40 on Aug. 24, against $30,000 spent. That puts the outcome somewhere between a $634.91 loss (down 2.1%) and a $1,183.40 gain (up 3.9%) over two months.

Rulli's Trading History

The congressman has made 33 trades totaling around $331,000 since 2024, according to data from Quiver Quantitative. This includes $211,000 in trades so far in 2026, with the majority ($139,000) from selling stock.

The only other tracked Alphabet stock transaction was Rulli selling $1,000 to $15,000 on July 31, 2025.

Rulli's trading history shows mostly buying and selling of Magnificent Seven and other large-cap blue-chip stocks.

Benzinga will continue to monitor congressional trading activity, including short-term trades like this one.

Photo: Markus Mainka / Shutterstock

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