Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John Hennessy Sells 600 Shares

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Director John Hennessy sold 600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, October 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $242.92, for a total transaction of $145,752.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 5,116 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,242,778.72. The trade was a 10.50% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Alphabet Stock Up 2.3%

NASDAQ:GOOGL opened at $251.03 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.90, a current ratio of 1.90 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.00. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $140.53 and a 52 week high of $256.00. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $229.41 and its two-hundred day moving average is $190.28.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $2.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.15 by $0.16. Alphabet had a return on equity of 34.31% and a net margin of 31.12%.The company had revenue of $96.43 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $93.60 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 15th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 8th were issued a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, September 8th. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is 8.95%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 242.9% in the first quarter. Guardian Wealth Management Inc. now owns 168 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares during the period. von Borstel & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $28,000. IMA Advisory Services Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet in the first quarter valued at $28,000. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Alphabet by 85.7% in the first quarter. NBZ Investment Advisors LLC now owns 195 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Gravity Companies Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet during the second quarter worth about $31,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOGL. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Wall Street Zen cut Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Sunday, September 21st. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, September 3rd. Phillip Securities cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Monday, September 8th. Finally, Sanford C. Bernstein raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $185.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirty-four have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $249.26.

Alphabet Company Profile

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.