Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Insider Sells 11,764 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total value of $1,962,705.76. Following the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. This trade represents a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

John Kent Walker also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, February 18th, John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90.
• On Monday, December 30th, John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.7 %

GOOGL stock opened at $162.24 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.98 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a 50-day moving average of $180.49 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.68. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $147.22 and a 52-week high of $207.05. 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 (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. Milestone Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,201,000. Fire Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter valued at $374,000. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $449,000. Prostatis Group LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 21.5% during the fourth quarter. Prostatis Group LLC now owns 9,361 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,772,000 after buying an additional 1,654 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M1 Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at $838,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. DA Davidson lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Roth Mkm reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wolfe Research increased their price objective on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Ten investment 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.59.

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.