Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sells $6,497,400.00 in Stock

Key Points

• Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of stock valued at approximately $6.5 million, representing a 1.30% decrease in his holdings.
• Alphabet will pay a quarterly dividend of $0.21 per share on September 15th, with an annual yield of 0.4%.
• The company reported strong earnings, with $2.31 EPS in its last quarter, surpassing the consensus estimate of $2.12 EPS.

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $199.92, for a total transaction of $6,497,400.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,462,392 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $492,281,408.64. The trade was a 1.30% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Sundar Pichai also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, August 6th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $196.23, for a total transaction of $6,377,475.00.
• On Wednesday, July 16th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.38, for a total transaction of $5,992,350.00.
• On Wednesday, July 2nd, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $178.52, for a total transaction of $5,801,900.00.
• On Wednesday, June 18th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $176.68, for a total transaction of $5,742,100.00.
• On Wednesday, June 4th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $168.71, for a total transaction of $5,483,075.00.

Alphabet Stock Performance

GOOG stock traded up $0.43 on Thursday, hitting $200.62. The company's stock had a trading volume of 11,722,228 shares, compared to its average volume of 21,816,540. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $186.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $174.88. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $142.66 and a 1 year high of $208.70. The stock has a market cap of $2.43 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 1.02. The company has a current ratio of 1.90, a quick ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.19. Alphabet had a net margin of 31.12% and a return on equity of 34.31%. The firm had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.89 EPS. Alphabet's revenue for the quarter was up 13.8% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.4%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 8.95%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 5.6% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 120,253 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $22,901,000 after purchasing an additional 6,410 shares during the last quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Bank Pictet & Cie Europe AG now owns 506,535 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $96,465,000 after purchasing an additional 20,855 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 3.3% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC now owns 4,329 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 138 shares during the last quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 620.2% during the 4th quarter. Crake Asset Management LLP now owns 749,000 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $142,640,000 after purchasing an additional 645,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 15.7% during the 4th quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 96,797 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $18,434,000 after purchasing an additional 13,113 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $232.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 24th. Cowen restated a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Tigress Financial reiterated a "strong-buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $210.00 price target (up previously from $185.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, July 24th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Alphabet from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, June 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have given a Buy rating, six have assigned a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $215.19.

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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