Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CAO Sells 2,824 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,824 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $187.43, for a total value of $529,302.32. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 15,024 shares in the company, valued at $2,815,948.32. The trade was a 15.82 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

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

• On Monday, February 3rd, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20.
• On Wednesday, January 15th, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.32, for a total value of $550,702.88.
• On Thursday, January 2nd, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,368 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $191.55, for a total value of $262,040.40.
• On Monday, December 16th, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,834 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $197.55, for a total value of $559,856.70.
• On Monday, December 2nd, Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $170.41, for a total value of $232,950.47.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ GOOG traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $186.61. 6,628,066 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,579,563. The firm has a market capitalization of $2.27 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $131.55 and a 52 week high of $208.70. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $194.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $176.94.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping 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%. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group increased their target price on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Pivotal Research increased their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased 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. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have given a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Swedbank AB increased its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Swedbank AB now owns 8,338,900 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,394,181,000 after acquiring an additional 51,226 shares during the last quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. increased its holdings in Alphabet by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. TB Alternative Assets Ltd. now owns 107,223 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $17,927,000 after acquiring an additional 28,223 shares during the last quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Koss Olinger Consulting LLC now owns 25,610 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $4,282,000 after acquiring an additional 402 shares during the last quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 63.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Investment Management LLC now owns 25,864 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $4,324,000 after buying an additional 10,059 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. grew its holdings in Alphabet by 3.6% during the 3rd quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 4,284 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $716,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% 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.