Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Frances Arnold Sells 121 Shares of Stock

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director Frances Arnold sold 121 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $170.30, for a total value of $20,606.30. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 16,938 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,884,541.40. The trade was a 0.71 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Frances Arnold also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, January 30th, Frances Arnold sold 110 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $200.00, for a total value of $22,000.00.
• On Tuesday, December 31st, Frances Arnold sold 111 shares of Alphabet stock. The shares were sold at an average price of $192.49, for a total value of $21,366.39.

Alphabet Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG opened at $172.22 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $192.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.65. Alphabet Inc. has a one year low of $131.55 and a one year high of $208.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.10 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.39, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th will be issued a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 9.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. LSV Asset Management acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Weiss Asset Management LP acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $25,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the third quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, WealthTrak Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $38,000. 27.26% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on GOOG shares. Phillip Securities upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Oppenheimer boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Benchmark restated a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have issued a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.13.

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.