Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Kavitark Ram Shriram Sells 29,066 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 29,066 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.89, for a total transaction of $5,374,012.74. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 272,466 shares in the company, valued at $50,376,238.74. This represents a 9.64 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Kavitark Ram Shriram also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Tuesday, December 10th, Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of Alphabet stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of GOOG stock opened at $187.13 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $2.28 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03. Alphabet Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $131.55 and a fifty-two week high of $208.70. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $194.35 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $177.01.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. On average, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.43%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 24th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Citizens Jmp cut shares of Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.13.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. LSV Asset Management bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the third quarter worth $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $38,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.