Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director John Hennessy Sells 600 Shares

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director John Hennessy sold 600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $308.19, for a total transaction of $184,914.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,916 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,206,872.04. This trade represents a 13.29% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $5.56 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $303.62. 4,496,692 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 23,756,750. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $287.17 and a 200-day moving average price of $233.11. The company has a current ratio of 1.75, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The company has a market capitalization of $3.66 trillion, a P/E ratio of 29.89, a P/E/G ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $328.67.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.12 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

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

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of GOOG. AIA Group Ltd lifted its position in Alphabet by 23.9% during the third quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 137,235 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,424,000 after buying an additional 26,450 shares in the last quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.7% in the 3rd quarter. Alternative Investment Advisors LLC. now owns 1,472 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Keel Point LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Keel Point LLC now owns 33,012 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,040,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares in the last quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP boosted its position in Alphabet by 22.0% during the 3rd quarter. Mirabella Financial Services LLP now owns 14,400 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,507,000 after purchasing an additional 2,600 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers National Bank increased its holdings in Alphabet by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Farmers National Bank now owns 45,029 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $10,967,000 after purchasing an additional 4,490 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on GOOG shares. DA Davidson set a $300.00 target price on Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, November 25th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on Alphabet in a report on Friday, December 5th. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $300.00 to $345.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $280.00 to $335.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $290.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 30th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have assigned a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $313.04.

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.