Insider Selling: Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CAO Sells 2,778 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $312.30, for a total transaction of $867,569.40. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer owned 8,962 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,798,832.60. This trade represents a 23.66% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

Amie Thuener O’toole also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, December 2nd, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $317.00, for a total transaction of $302,418.00.
• On Monday, November 17th, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $288.26, for a total value of $800,786.28.
• On Monday, November 3rd, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 954 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $282.33, for a total value of $269,342.82.
• On Wednesday, October 15th, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,778 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.05, for a total value of $694,638.90.
• On Wednesday, October 1st, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 953 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $241.20, for a total value of $229,863.60.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOGL traded down $9.85 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $296.72. 43,812,253 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 36,702,309. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $285.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $231.90. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $140.53 and a 1-year high of $328.83. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The firm has a market cap of $3.58 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. Alphabet had a net margin of 32.23% and a return on equity of 35.00%. The company had revenue of $102.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $99.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Alphabet from $215.00 to $275.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, September 22nd. New Street Research increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $275.00 to $295.00 in a report on Friday, October 24th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Truist Financial set a $350.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, December 5th. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $343.00 price objective (up from $280.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have issued a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $315.18.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.9% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 110,330 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $20,886,000 after acquiring an additional 4,110 shares in the last quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% in the 4th quarter. Revolve Wealth Partners LLC now owns 14,930 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,826,000 after purchasing an additional 506 shares during the last quarter. United Bank boosted its position in Alphabet by 2.1% during the 1st quarter. United Bank now owns 45,084 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $6,972,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the period. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC grew its stake in Alphabet by 16.4% during the 1st quarter. Integrated Investment Consultants LLC now owns 27,114 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,193,000 after buying an additional 3,822 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Waddell & Associates LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 14.8% in the first quarter. Waddell & Associates LLC now owns 7,437 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,150,000 after buying an additional 959 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.