Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John L. Hennessy Sells 400 Shares

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) Director John L. Hennessy sold 400 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $181.98, for a total transaction of $72,792.00. Following the sale, the director owned 6,013 shares in the company, valued at $1,094,245.74. This represents a 6.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.5%

GOOGL traded up $0.97 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $182.97. The stock had a trading volume of 33,066,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 32,044,822. The company has a market capitalization of $2.22 trillion, a PE ratio of 20.40, a PEG ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $140.53 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.77 and a current ratio of 1.77. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $171.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $173.13.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.02 by $0.79. The company had revenue of $76.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 30.86% and a return on equity of 34.54%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.46%. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. Wealth Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Group Ltd. now owns 1,582 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 78 shares during the period. Eagle Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Eagle Capital Management LLC now owns 50,132 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,490,000 after buying an additional 371 shares during the period. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $20,886,000 after buying an additional 4,110 shares during the period. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,826,000 after buying an additional 506 shares during the period. Finally, Highview Capital Management LLC DE lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Highview Capital Management LLC DE now owns 29,100 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $5,509,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 40.03% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $208.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $180.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, April 25th. JMP Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet from a "market perform" rating to a "market outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price target on the stock in a report on Friday, June 27th. Finally, Citigroup reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $203.00 price target (up from $200.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, June 24th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $201.24.

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.

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