Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Frances Arnold Sells 111 Shares

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Frances Arnold sold 111 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $162.42, for a total value of $18,028.62. Following the transaction, the director now owns 17,048 shares in the company, valued at $2,768,936.16. The trade was a 0.65 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Frances Arnold also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Friday, February 28th, Frances Arnold sold 121 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.30, for a total transaction of $20,606.30.
• On Thursday, January 30th, Frances Arnold sold 110 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $22,000.00.
• On Tuesday, December 31st, Frances Arnold sold 111 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.49, for a total transaction of $21,366.39.

Alphabet Stock Up 0.1 %

NASDAQ:GOOG traded up $0.17 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $156.23. The stock had a trading volume of 33,559,566 shares, compared to its average volume of 18,930,280. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The business’s 50 day moving average is $181.53 and its 200 day moving average is $178.69. The stock has a market cap of $1.90 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $148.20 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.51%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GOOG has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Finally, Cantor Fitzgerald reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $200.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.56.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,094,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares in the last quarter. Requisite Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth $927,000. Finally, Stevens Capital Management LP lifted its position in Alphabet by 172.9% during the third quarter. Stevens Capital Management LP now owns 91,237 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,254,000 after purchasing an additional 57,810 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.