Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sells 32,500 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,272,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $725,942,020.50. This represents a 1.41% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Sundar Pichai also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, November 19th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total transaction of $9,640,800.00.
• On Wednesday, November 5th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00.
• On Wednesday, October 15th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00.
• On Wednesday, October 1st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00.
• On Wednesday, September 17th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $249.50, for a total value of $8,108,750.00.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

GOOGL stock traded up $3.65 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $321.27. The company had a trading volume of 27,901,821 shares, compared to its average volume of 36,759,297. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 trillion, a P/E ratio of 31.68, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $140.53 and a 1 year high of $328.83. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a 50 day moving average of $274.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $223.02.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. On average, equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 85.7% during the 1st quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $31,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 36.4% in the 2nd quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $44,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the period. Pilgrim Partners Asia Pte Ltd bought a new stake in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at $53,000. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $53,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $330.00 price objective (up from $285.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $300.00 to $340.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Sanford C. Bernstein raised their price target on Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Saturday, November 1st. Finally, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $320.00 price target (up previously from $245.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $312.65.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.