Key Points
- Alphabet insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares on Dec. 30 at an average price of $314.89 for a total of $5.61M, cutting his stake by 29.32% to 42,972 shares, per an SEC filing.
- Alphabet beat expectations with quarterly EPS of $2.87 and $102.35B in revenue, and analysts have been upgrading the stock amid renewed AI and Google Cloud momentum, with an average price target around $315.90.
- Positive sentiment is counterbalanced by risks from heavy AI infrastructure capex that could pressure free cash flow and ongoing regulatory probes that could weigh on the stock.
Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) insider John Kent Walker sold 17,829 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, December 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $314.89, for a total transaction of $5,614,173.81. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 42,972 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,531,453.08. This trade represents a 29.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.
Alphabet Stock Performance
Shares of Alphabet stock opened at $313.85 on Wednesday. Alphabet Inc. has a 12 month low of $140.53 and a 12 month high of $328.83. 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 cap of $3.79 trillion, a PE ratio of 30.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.07. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $298.00 and a 200-day simple moving average of $241.56.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $102.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $99.90 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 35.00% and a net margin of 32.23%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Alphabet Dividend Announcement
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 15th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 8th were given a $0.21 dividend. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 8th. Alphabet's dividend payout ratio is 8.28%.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on GOOGL shares. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $285.00 to $320.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. UBS Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $306.00 price target (up from $255.00) on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, October 30th. Rosenblatt Securities lifted their price target on Alphabet from $224.00 to $279.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 30th. Moffett Nathanson increased their price objective on Alphabet from $305.00 to $315.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, November 25th. Finally, China Renaissance raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $207.00 to $330.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, forty-one have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $315.90.
View Our Latest Report on Alphabet
Alphabet News Roundup
Here are the key news stories impacting Alphabet this week:
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet
A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Delta Asset Management LLC TN raised its holdings in Alphabet by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Delta Asset Management LLC TN now owns 6,153 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,496,000 after acquiring an additional 37 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.8% in the third quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 4,417 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,074,000 after purchasing an additional 37 shares during the last quarter. Matisse Capital increased its stake in shares of Alphabet by 0.3% in the third quarter. Matisse Capital now owns 14,814 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $3,601,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Rialto Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Rialto Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,226 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hodges Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Hodges Capital Management Inc. now owns 6,963 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $1,693,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company's stock.
About Alphabet
(
Get Free Report)
Alphabet Inc is the holding company created in 2015 to organize Google and a portfolio of businesses developing technologies beyond Google's core internet services. Its principal operations are led by Google, which builds and operates consumer-facing products such as Google Search, YouTube, Android, Chrome, Gmail, Google Maps and Google Workspace, as well as advertising platforms (Google Ads and AdSense) that historically generate the majority of its revenue. Google also develops consumer hardware (Pixel phones, Nest smart-home devices, Chromecast) and developer and distribution platforms such as Google Play.
Beyond Google's consumer and advertising businesses, Alphabet invests in enterprise and infrastructure offerings through Google Cloud, which provides cloud computing, data analytics and productivity services to businesses and institutions.
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