Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) Director John L. Hennessy Sells 200 Shares

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) Director John L. Hennessy sold 200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, April 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $161.90, for a total transaction of $32,380.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 7,613 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,232,544.70. This represents a 2.56 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Alphabet Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GOOG traded down $2.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $153.36. 19,461,666 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 19,435,374. Alphabet Inc. has a 52-week low of $142.66 and a 52-week high of $208.70. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $167.16 and a 200 day moving average of $177.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a current ratio of 1.84 and a quick ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, March 10th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.52%. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in GOOG. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Alphabet by 2.5% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,024,276 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,843,149,000 after purchasing an additional 264,962 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $166,000. McIlrath & Eck LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 12.9% in the third quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 13,575 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $2,270,000 after buying an additional 1,546 shares in the last quarter. Passumpsic Savings Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 3rd quarter valued at $263,000. Finally, Advisory Resource Group boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 8.7% during the third quarter. Advisory Resource Group now owns 10,277 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,718,000 after buying an additional 822 shares during the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have issued reports on GOOG shares. Scotiabank increased their price target on Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Friday, January 24th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "overweight" rating on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 11th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $215.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $220.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, fifteen have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $210.88.

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.