Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Insider Sells 17,690 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. The trade was a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

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

• On Monday, December 30th, John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.7 %

Shares of GOOG opened at $181.58 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The company has a market capitalization of $2.21 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.56, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.00. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $194.02 and its 200-day moving average price is $177.22.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on GOOG shares. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup upped their target price on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp lowered Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Swedbank AB raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the third quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares during the last quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the third quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC now owns 78,118 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,061,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Wealth Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.4% in the third quarter. Integrity Wealth Solutions LLC now owns 4,591 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $768,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 16.0% in the third quarter. Horst & Graben Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.3% in the third quarter. MPS Loria Financial Planners LLC now owns 5,266 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $880,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.