Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director Sells 700 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total transaction of $115,500.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 27,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,590,960. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of GOOGL traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $162.29. The company had a trading volume of 23,311,061 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,684,514. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $164.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $165.98. The stock has a market cap of $2.01 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on GOOGL. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.08.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 59,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,259,000 after purchasing an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $1,533,000. L.M. Kohn & Company boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 47,079 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,576,000 after acquiring an additional 1,515 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 12.4% in the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 34,200 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,777,000 after acquiring an additional 3,760 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assetmark Inc. increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 1,824,835 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $254,911,000 after purchasing an additional 32,084 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% 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.