John L. Hennessy Sells 1,500 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $194.22, for a total value of $291,330.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 23,324 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,529,987.28. The trade was a 6.04 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Alphabet Stock Down 1.2 %

GOOG stock traded down $2.25 during trading on Friday, reaching $191.38. The stock had a trading volume of 18,867,616 shares, compared to its average volume of 19,662,195. The company has a current ratio of 1.95, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $172.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.12. The company has a market capitalization of $2.34 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.38, a PEG ratio of 1.38 and a beta of 1.02. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $131.06 and a 1-year high of $196.89.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.83 by $0.29. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 9th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 10.61%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on GOOG. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Phillip Securities raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Alphabet from $208.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded Alphabet from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 29th. Finally, DA Davidson raised Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 10th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $200.56.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. M&G PLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,240,000. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% during the 2nd quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $390,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 116,776 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $19,642,000 after acquiring an additional 14,738 shares in the last quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Metis Global Partners LLC now owns 301,980 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $50,488,000 after acquiring an additional 4,292 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Stevens Capital Management LP lifted its stake 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 worth $15,254,000 after purchasing an additional 57,810 shares during the last quarter. 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.