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

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $299.80, for a total transaction of $9,743,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 2,239,619 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $671,437,776.20. This trade represents a 1.43% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website.

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 shares were sold at an average price of $283.48, for a total transaction of $9,213,100.00.
• On Wednesday, October 15th, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $250.15, for a total transaction of $8,129,875.00.
• On Wednesday, October 1st, Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $243.41, for a total value of $7,910,825.00.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of GOOGL stock opened at $302.46 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $287.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $232.84. The company has a quick ratio of 1.75, a current ratio of 1.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.06. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.65 trillion, a PE ratio of 29.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.07. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $140.53 and a 52-week high of $328.83.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.87 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.29 by $0.58. The company 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%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Investors of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 8.28%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $21,944,208,000. Berkshire Hathaway Inc acquired a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,338,397,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 17,667.7% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 15,245,075 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,686,640,000 after buying an additional 15,159,273 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 28.0% in the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 53,107,572 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $12,910,542,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605,785 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 51.7% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 31,817,684 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,607,232,000 after acquiring an additional 10,843,853 shares in the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on GOOGL shares. President Capital upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $258.00 to $323.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. DZ Bank reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Sanford C. Bernstein lifted their price objective on Alphabet from $260.00 to $305.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Alphabet from $340.00 to $343.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $315.18.

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.