Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Sells 29,066 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. The trade was a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Kavitark Ram Shriram also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, December 10th, Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $181.58 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The business has a fifty day moving average of $194.02 and a 200 day moving average of $177.22. The company has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the topic of several analyst reports. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.