Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai Sells 32,500 Shares

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total transaction of $5,153,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,717,696 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $430,917,877.76. The trade was a 1.18 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $146.75 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.79 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.03. 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 business has a 50-day moving average of $174.25 and a 200 day moving average of $176.82. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $207.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Piper Sandler lowered their price target on Alphabet from $210.00 to $208.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. DA Davidson upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. UBS Group set a $190.00 price objective on Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, March 27th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Wolfe Research upped their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have issued a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after acquiring an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. America First Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. America First Investment Advisors LLC now owns 140,442 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $23,292,000 after purchasing an additional 843 shares during the last quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 6.9% in the 3rd quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. now owns 201,974 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $33,497,000 after purchasing an additional 12,966 shares during the last quarter. Makena Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Makena Capital Management LLC now owns 91,834 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $15,231,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 29.5% during the 3rd quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC now owns 5,189 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $861,000 after purchasing an additional 1,181 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% 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.