John Kent Walker Sells 11,764 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

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

• On Tuesday, February 18th, John Kent Walker sold 17,690 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.51, for a total transaction of $3,281,671.90.
• 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 transaction of $3,239,868.40.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of GOOG stock traded down $3.06 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $164.08. 21,538,119 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 17,861,192. 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 cap of $2.00 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.38, a P/E/G 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. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $182.96 and its 200-day moving average is $178.36.

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

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Weiss Asset Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the third quarter valued at $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on GOOG. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citizens Jmp downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. Wedbush reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $209.13.

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.