Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director Sells 200 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.53, for a total value of $33,106.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,813 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,293,285.89. This trade represents a 2.50 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.6 %

Alphabet stock traded down $4.35 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $162.76. 31,703,989 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,122,760. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $186.76 and its 200-day moving average price is $176.48. The company has a market cap of $1.98 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $140.03 and a fifty-two week high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Wolfe Research boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, DA Davidson upped their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 10.1% in the 3rd quarter. Pettinga Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. Solidarity Wealth LLC now owns 100,497 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $16,667,000 after buying an additional 4,594 shares during the last quarter. Boyd Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Boyd Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,660 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $275,000 after buying an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Financial Advocates Investment Management now owns 36,140 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $5,994,000 after buying an additional 639 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. now owns 4,262 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $707,000 after buying an additional 67 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.