Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) insider John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 43,981 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,471,620.22. This represents a 27.66 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.
Shares of GOOGL traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $189.27. The company's stock had a trading volume of 15,816,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,460,176. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $130.66 and a one year high of $201.42. The stock's 50-day moving average is $179.17 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.32 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.39 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $72.85 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.01 EPS for the current year.
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.
A number of research firms have recently commented on GOOGL. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $217.00 price objective (up from $215.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $205.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $205.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $232.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have given a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.69.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on GOOGL
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 75.0% in the 2nd quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. LMR Partners LLP bought a new position in Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $32,000. Kings Path Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet in the second quarter worth about $36,000. Denver PWM LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $53,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.
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.
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