John Kent Walker Sells 16,802 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total value of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares in the company, valued at $7,280,514.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

John Kent Walker also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, September 3rd, John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.7 %

Alphabet stock opened at $168.42 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.83, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $121.46 and a twelve month high of $193.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $163.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.51.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.44 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 12.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Rosenblatt Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Friday, June 28th. Pivotal Research initiated coverage on Alphabet in a report on Tuesday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $215.00 price target for the company. Cantor Fitzgerald raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. TD Cowen boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $210.00 to $185.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $183.75.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Concentrum Wealth Management lifted its stake in Alphabet by 25.0% during the fourth quarter. Concentrum Wealth Management now owns 16,440 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,317,000 after purchasing an additional 3,283 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 6,647 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $937,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC now owns 14,044 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,979,000 after purchasing an additional 879 shares during the last quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Poehling Capital Management INC. now owns 60,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,476,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 15.3% in the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 8,370 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,180,000 after purchasing an additional 1,113 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.