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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) insider John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,111 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,997,521.61. This represents a 29.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $192.62, for a total value of $3,239,868.40.

Alphabet Price Performance

Alphabet stock opened at $179.66 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $130.66 and a 12 month high of $207.05. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $192.46 and its 200-day moving average is $175.69. 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 company has a market capitalization of $2.19 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.32, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating 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%. Equities research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be given a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.45%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. DZ Bank downgraded Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, February 6th. Pivotal Research lifted their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Alphabet from $204.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and four have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $210.62.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOGL. Ascent Group LLC grew its position in Alphabet by 6.5% during the fourth quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 119,644 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $22,649,000 after buying an additional 7,281 shares in the last quarter. Putney Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $7,790,000. Vermillion Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $223,000. Sunbeam Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,068,000. Finally, Amiral Gestion acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,687,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.