Marsida Saraci Sells 449 Shares of Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CAO Marsida Saraci sold 449 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, June 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $341.72, for a total transaction of $153,432.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer owned 27,348 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,345,358.56. This trade represents a 1.62% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Alphabet Stock Up 1.1%

GOOGL stock opened at $361.21 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $370.08 and a 200 day moving average price of $333.88. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $172.77 and a 12 month high of $408.61. The company has a market cap of $4.38 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.16, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.92.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The information services provider reported $5.11 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.64 by $2.47. Alphabet had a net margin of 37.92% and a return on equity of 38.99%. The firm had revenue of $109.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $106.98 billion. Sell-side analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 14.3 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 8th were paid a dividend of $0.22 per share. This represents a $0.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.2%. This is a positive change from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.21. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 8th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is currently 6.71%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GOOGL has been the topic of several recent research reports. KeyCorp restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $425.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada set a $425.00 price objective on Alphabet and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 30th. HSBC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $420.00 target price (down from $435.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday, June 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $415.00 price target (up from $375.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, President Capital increased their price target on Alphabet from $375.00 to $465.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-seven have issued a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $413.90.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 6.0% in the first quarter. Strategic Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 477 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $137,000 after buying an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.5% in the first quarter. Rockbridge Investment Management LCC now owns 5,460 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 0.9% in the first quarter. Ruggaard & Associates LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $840,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.1% in the first quarter. Cadia Private Client LLC now owns 2,589 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $744,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evansbrook LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.3% in the first quarter. Evansbrook LLC now owns 9,522 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,738,000 after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Alphabet

Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Alphabet’s addition to the Dow Jones Industrial Average is boosting visibility and may increase index-related demand for GOOGL. Alphabet debuts in Dow Jones Industrial Average as index tilts toward tech
• Positive Sentiment: Google’s Nano Banana 2 Lite launch could strengthen its AI product lineup by offering a faster, cheaper creation tool. Google introduces a faster, cheaper image generator with Nano Banana 2 Lite
• Positive Sentiment: Visa and Google signing onto OpenUSD expands Alphabet’s footprint in digital payments infrastructure. Visa and Google Sign on to Use Money Movement Stablecoin OpenUSD
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent insider stock sales by Alphabet directors and executives appear routine and are not large enough on their own to change the investment thesis. Director Frances Arnold sold 112 shares of Alphabet stock
• Negative Sentiment: A Swedish court ordered Google to pay damages in an antitrust case, reinforcing legal risk around its shopping and search practices. Swedish court orders Google pay $1.46 bn for favoring its price comparisons
• Negative Sentiment: UK regulators are moving against app-store fees and payment restrictions, which could pressure Google’s app platform economics. UK targets Apple, Google app store fees for developers

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google’s core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.

Beyond Google’s consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.