Kavitark Ram Shriram Sells 10,500 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 10,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, October 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $180.78, for a total transaction of $1,898,190.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 330,466 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $59,741,643.48. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.56 on Friday, reaching $173.25. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 10,012,838 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,660,402. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $163.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $170.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 2.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.13 trillion, a P/E ratio of 22.98, a PEG ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.04. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $128.11 and a 52-week high of $193.31.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. The company had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.55 EPS. Alphabet’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.83 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 10.61%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on GOOG shares. Pivotal Research upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. TD Cowen lifted their target price on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $216.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn upgraded shares of Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 9,200.0% in the second quarter. Abich Financial Wealth Management LLC now owns 186 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 184 shares during the period. 1620 Investment Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $37,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in Alphabet in the second quarter valued at about $40,000. Slocum Gordon & Co LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Finally, Hoese & Co LLP boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 62.5% during the 2nd quarter. Hoese & Co LLP now owns 260 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.