Insider Selling: Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sells 22,500 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.80, for a total value of $3,753,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,280,511 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $380,389,234.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

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

• On Wednesday, April 17th, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $157.41, for a total transaction of $3,541,725.00.
• On Wednesday, April 3rd, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.67, for a total value of $3,502,575.00.
• On Wednesday, March 20th, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $148.78, for a total value of $3,347,550.00.
• On Wednesday, March 6th, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total value of $2,985,750.00.
• On Wednesday, February 21st, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $143.08, for a total transaction of $3,219,300.00.
• On Wednesday, February 7th, Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $146.29, for a total transaction of $3,291,525.00.

Alphabet Price Performance

NASDAQ GOOGL traded up $1.08 on Wednesday, hitting $163.86. 32,498,400 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 30,886,965. Alphabet Inc. has a 52 week low of $103.71 and a 52 week high of $174.71. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $148.80 and a 200-day moving average of $141.79. The company has a current ratio of 2.15, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.17 EPS. Analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.49%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GOOGL. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. raised its holdings in Alphabet by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. RWQ Financial Management Services Inc. now owns 61,499 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $8,591,000 after purchasing an additional 4,664 shares during the last quarter. Robbins Farley raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 15,006 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,096,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 9.6% in the third quarter. Ballast Advisors LLC now owns 15,747 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,061,000 after buying an additional 1,385 shares during the period. CKW Financial Group boosted its position in Alphabet by 5.8% during the first quarter. CKW Financial Group now owns 13,830 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $2,150,000 after acquiring an additional 760 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quantum Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Alphabet by 8.0% during the 3rd quarter. Quantum Financial Advisors LLC now owns 7,623 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $998,000 after acquiring an additional 564 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Alphabet from $155.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Piper Sandler reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price objective (up previously from $160.00) on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Wolfe Research boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $180.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirty have issued a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $190.60.

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.