Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Insider Sells $3,239,868.40 in Stock

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

Alphabet Stock Up 1.3 %

GOOG opened at $193.13 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $202.88. The business has a 50-day moving average of $181.77 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.36 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The firm had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. Alphabet’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heritage Family Offices LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the second quarter worth $227,000. Gouws Capital LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 3.2% in 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 position in Alphabet by 3.7% in the second quarter. Montag A & Associates Inc. now owns 280,031 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $51,363,000 after purchasing an additional 10,093 shares during the period. Summit Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 45.5% during the second quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 39,653 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $7,273,000 after purchasing an additional 12,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Claro Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.6% in 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have issued reports on GOOG. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays upped their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, DA Davidson raised shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

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.