Kavitark Ram Shriram Sells 29,066 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total value of $5,374,012.74. Following the transaction, the director now owns 272,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Kavitark Ram Shriram also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, December 10th, Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total value of $6,870,532.68.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.81 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $186.61. 6,628,066 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 17,579,563. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.16, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company’s 50 day moving average is $194.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $176.94.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. 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 0.43%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 9.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $5,166,070,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $1,551,533,000. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Alphabet by 16.1% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after purchasing an additional 7,917,625 shares in the last quarter. GQG Partners LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 181,679.1% in the 4th quarter. GQG Partners LLC now owns 7,225,721 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,376,066,000 after purchasing an additional 7,221,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 91,236,069 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $17,376,706,000 after buying an additional 5,758,244 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOG has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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.