John Kent Walker Sells 11,764 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

John Kent Walker also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 18th, John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90.
• On Monday, December 30th, John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $156.06 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 firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $181.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $178.31. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $148.20 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The company has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of several recent research reports. Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Rosenblatt Securities restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $208.56.

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.