Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Insider Sells $3,281,671.90 in Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,997,521.61. This trade represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

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

• On Monday, December 30th, John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG opened at $181.58 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $194.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $177.34. The company has a market cap of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $131.55 and a 52-week high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&G PLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at approximately $2,240,000. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after purchasing an additional 1,041 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,642,000 after purchasing an additional 14,738 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after purchasing an additional 4,292 shares during the period. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $927,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.