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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total transaction of $9,743,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,239,619 shares in the company, valued at $671,437,776.20. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

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

• On Wednesday, December 3rd, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $319.50, for a total transaction of $10,383,750.00.
• On Wednesday, November 19th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $296.64, for a total transaction of $9,640,800.00.
• On Wednesday, November 5th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total value of $9,213,100.00.
• On Wednesday, October 15th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total value of $8,129,875.00.
• On Wednesday, October 1st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total transaction of $7,910,825.00.

Alphabet Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $9.67 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $298.06. The company had a trading volume of 28,380,620 shares, compared to its average volume of 27,439,056. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $287.17 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $233.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06, a quick ratio of 1.75 and a current ratio of 1.75. Alphabet Inc. has a 1-year low of $142.66 and a 1-year high of $328.67. The firm has a market cap of $3.60 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 29.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 1.07.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.29 by $0.58. The business had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%.Alphabet’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.12 earnings per share. Research analysts predict 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, December 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. This represents a $0.84 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Morse Asset Management Inc boosted its stake in Alphabet by 3.3% in the third quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 1,093 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Robinson Smith Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,070 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $504,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Searle & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Searle & CO. now owns 5,703 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,389,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. grew its position in Alphabet by 0.6% in the third quarter. Navellier & Associates Inc. now owns 5,846 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,424,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares in the last quarter. Finally, BankPlus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 1.2% in the third quarter. BankPlus Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $766,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Raymond James Financial set a $275.00 price target on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 24th. HSBC reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $335.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $260.00 to $300.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 27th. Canaccord Genuity Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $330.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Finally, Piper Sandler upped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $330.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twenty-nine have issued a Buy rating, three have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $313.04.

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.