Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Insider Sells 17,690 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares in the company, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $5.06 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $181.58. The company had a trading volume of 19,447,412 shares, compared to its average volume of 17,667,480. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $194.22 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $177.08. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70.

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

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 64,768 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,334,000 after purchasing an additional 3,938 shares during the period. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $273,000. Perennial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $17,216,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $79,000. Finally, AlphaCore Capital LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 19.8% during the fourth quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 26,005 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,952,000 after purchasing an additional 4,307 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn raised Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Citigroup raised their price objective on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.