Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director Sells 1,500 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $1.03 during trading on Monday, reaching $191.01. 21,779,337 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 24,045,980. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $183.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $172.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $130.66 and a 12-month high of $201.42. The firm has a market cap of $2.34 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $72.85 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday, December 23rd. Needham & Company LLC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Piper Sandler reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have assigned a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $208.15.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. LMR Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth about $32,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $41,000. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Teachers Insurance & Annuity Association of America acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $66,000. Finally, Mendota Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mendota Financial Group LLC now owns 401 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $67,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.