John Kent Walker Sells 17,690 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total value of $3,281,671.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 43,111 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

John Kent Walker also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Monday, December 30th, John Kent Walker sold 16,820 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40.

Alphabet Trading Down 0.4 %

GOOG traded down $0.74 during trading on Thursday, reaching $186.39. 6,348,335 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,430,088. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a PE ratio of 23.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $194.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $177.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOG has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Oppenheimer upped their price target on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

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.