Ruth Porat Sells 17,690 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total transaction of $3,245,761.20. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Alphabet Stock Performance

NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $181.58 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The firm has a market capitalization 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’s 50-day moving average is $194.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $177.34. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.55 and a 1-year high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the 4th quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Ethos Financial Group LLC now owns 7,300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $966,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of research reports. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target 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.