Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Insider John Kent Walker Sells 21,467 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total transaction of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,307,206.90. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $157.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 2.08 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market cap of $1.94 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.12, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $120.21 and a 1-year high of $191.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $171.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $164.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 12.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

GOOGL has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Tigress Financial increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $176.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 24th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Rosenblatt Securities reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $202.81.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Alphabet by 0.8% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 497,874,324 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $75,144,172,000 after buying an additional 4,064,073 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $15,441,917,000. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Alphabet by 14.4% in the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 57,803,291 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,724,251,000 after purchasing an additional 7,275,757 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 49,472,478 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $9,011,412,000 after purchasing an additional 238,403 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 45,220,857 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $6,316,902,000 after purchasing an additional 1,472,043 shares during the last quarter. 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.