Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Sells $284,700.00 in Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, January 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 21,824 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,142,195.20. The trade was a 6.43 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Alphabet Stock Up 3.1 %

GOOG opened at $196.98 on Thursday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $174.55. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.41 trillion, a P/E ratio of 26.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $131.55 and a 12 month high of $202.88.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOG has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $215.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Citigroup raised 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, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 2.8% during the second quarter. Trueblood Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,233 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $776,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 8.5% during the second quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 12,977 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,014 shares during the last quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP raised its holdings in Alphabet by 4.2% during the second quarter. Nicholas Investment Partners LP now owns 21,224 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,893,000 after purchasing an additional 861 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 8.0% during the second quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 436,326 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $80,031,000 after purchasing an additional 32,428 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 14.2% during the second quarter. Ullmann Wealth Partners Group LLC now owns 3,173 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $582,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.