Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai Sells 32,500 Shares

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

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

• On Wednesday, April 16th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total transaction 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 Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $2.14 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $161.72. 14,233,976 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 19,546,945. Alphabet Inc. has a 12-month low of $142.66 and a 12-month high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $160.65 and a 200 day moving average price of $176.97. The firm has a market cap of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 20.09, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.89 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be issued a $0.21 dividend. This is an increase from Alphabet's previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 9th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 9.36%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aberdeen Group plc grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 19.2% in the first quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 6,617,033 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,026,798,000 after acquiring an additional 1,067,262 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 14,862,649 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,321,857,000 after buying an additional 279,132 shares in the last quarter. Horizon Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 20.9% in the first quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 12,172 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,902,000 after buying an additional 2,101 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.2% in the first quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 59,104 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $9,234,000 after buying an additional 1,264 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fox Run Management L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 31.4% in the first quarter. Fox Run Management L.L.C. now owns 4,961 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $775,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GOOG has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank decreased their target price on shares of Alphabet from $232.00 to $200.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 21st. Susquehanna reiterated a "positive" rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Oppenheimer raised their price objective on Alphabet from $185.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Westpark Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $210.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Friday, April 25th. Finally, Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and set a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $203.94.

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.