Sundar Pichai Sells 32,500 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.16, for a total value of $5,075,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,685,196 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $419,320,207.36. This trade represents a 1.20 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Sundar Pichai also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Wednesday, April 2nd, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.56, for a total value of $5,153,200.00.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOG opened at $153.36 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $167.16 and a 200 day moving average of $177.62. The company has a current ratio of 1.84, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $142.66 and a 12 month high of $208.70. The company has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.05, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 11th. Westpark Capital started coverage on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $210.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. KeyCorp decreased their target price on Alphabet from $202.00 to $185.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $210.88.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. GPS Wealth Strategies Group LLC now owns 16,248 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,094,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares during the period. North Forty Two & Co. purchased a new stake in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth about $281,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 140.6% in the 4th quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 14,734 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,806,000 after acquiring an additional 8,610 shares during the period. Requisite Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at about $927,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Alphabet by 10.9% during the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 7,184,399 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,384,039,000 after purchasing an additional 704,875 shares during the period. 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.