Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Insider Ruth Porat Sells 17,690 Shares

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $265,914,995.28. The trade was a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Alphabet Stock Down 2.7 %

GOOGL stock opened at $179.66 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $130.66 and a twelve month high of $207.05. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The firm has a market cap of $2.19 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.99. The business has a 50 day moving average of $192.46 and a 200 day moving average of $175.69.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on GOOGL. DZ Bank cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Piper Sandler lowered their target price on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on Alphabet from $232.00 to $220.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.62.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOGL. Ascent Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 119,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,649,000 after purchasing an additional 7,281 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $7,790,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $223,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $1,068,000. Finally, Amiral Gestion bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $26,687,000. 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.