Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sells 32,500 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total value of $9,743,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,239,619 shares in the company, valued at $671,437,776.20. The trade was a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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

• On Wednesday, December 3rd, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00.
• On Wednesday, November 19th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total value of $9,640,800.00.
• On Wednesday, November 5th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00.
• On Wednesday, October 15th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00.
• On Wednesday, October 1st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.2%

Alphabet stock traded down $9.85 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $296.72. The stock had a trading volume of 43,812,253 shares, compared to its average volume of 43,504,144. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $286.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $232.35. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $328.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.58 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.07. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Rosenblatt Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $300.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft lifted their price target on Alphabet from $260.00 to $340.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $270.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Moffett Nathanson boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $315.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Delta Asset Management LLC TN raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 6,153 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,496,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 4,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,074,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Matisse Capital raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 14,814 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,601,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Alphabet by 1.7% during the third quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% in the third quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,963 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,693,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% 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.