Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sells 22,500 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total value of $3,614,175.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,713,977.55. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

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

• On Wednesday, September 4th, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00.
• On Wednesday, August 21st, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $167.66, for a total transaction of $3,772,350.00.
• On Wednesday, August 7th, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.35, for a total value of $3,652,875.00.
• On Wednesday, July 17th, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.84, for a total value of $4,113,900.00.
• On Thursday, June 20th, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $177.40, for a total value of $3,991,500.00.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $162.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $165.15 and its 200-day simple moving average is $165.11. Alphabet Inc. has a 1 year low of $120.21 and a 1 year high of $191.75. The firm has a market cap of $2.00 trillion, a PE ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 26.70% and a return on equity of 30.49%. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $70.60 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.44 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.64 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th were issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOGL. M&G Investment Management Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the 4th quarter. M&G Investment Management Ltd. now owns 2,377,325 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $332,826,000 after purchasing an additional 112,071 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 12.2% in the 4th quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 10,457,319 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,452,731,000 after purchasing an additional 1,137,724 shares during the last quarter. Fagan Associates Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Fagan Associates Inc. now owns 254,422 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $35,540,000 after acquiring an additional 1,055 shares in the last quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 39,110 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,463,000 after purchasing an additional 3,931 shares in the last quarter. Finally, D Orazio & Associates Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. D Orazio & Associates Inc. now owns 11,276 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,575,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the subject of several recent research reports. Cantor Fitzgerald started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Thursday, September 5th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $190.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Citigroup raised their price target on Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Alphabet in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 price target for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Eight investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.08.

About Alphabet

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.