Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Insider Sells $3,245,761.20 in Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Alphabet Price Performance

GOOG traded down $5.06 during trading on Friday, hitting $181.58. 19,447,412 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,667,480. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a market cap 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 company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $194.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $177.08.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.44%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of several research reports. Pivotal Research raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.