Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sells 32,500 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total value of $5,066,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,652,696 shares of the company's stock, valued at $413,555,306.40. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

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

• On Wednesday, April 16th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00.
• On Wednesday, April 2nd, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded down $1.37 during trading on Friday, hitting $154.38. The company had a trading volume of 22,820,181 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,511,558. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $161.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.93. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 12.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be paid a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is a positive change from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $180.00 to $195.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Citigroup reiterated a "sell" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and five have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $203.94.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Investment Services LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% in 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 in the last quarter. North Forty Two & Co. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 140.6% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $2,806,000 after purchasing an additional 8,610 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Requisite Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $927,000. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

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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