John Kent Walker Sells 16,820 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total transaction of $3,239,868.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,981 shares in the company, valued at $8,471,620.22. This trade represents a 27.66 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $193.13 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $202.88. The company has a quick ratio of 1.95, a current ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The company has a market cap of $2.36 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $181.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $174.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOG. Oppenheimer lifted their target price on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Scotiabank assumed coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price for the company. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Heritage Family Offices LLP bought a new position in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter valued at approximately $227,000. Gouws Capital LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Gouws Capital LLC now owns 57,335 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,516,000 after purchasing an additional 1,780 shares in the last quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 280,031 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $51,363,000 after buying an additional 10,093 shares in the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 45.5% in the second quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 39,653 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,273,000 after buying an additional 12,403 shares during the period. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 4.6% during the second quarter. Claro Advisors LLC now owns 33,580 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,159,000 after buying an additional 1,478 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.