Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 0.5%

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares were down 0.5% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as low as $150.76 and last traded at $150.99. Approximately 4,579,801 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 22,956,039 shares. The stock had previously closed at $151.70.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on GOOG shares. Susquehanna upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “positive” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 31st. Raymond James increased their price target on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $160.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 24th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $146.33.

Alphabet Trading Up 0.2 %

The company has a market cap of $1.89 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 26.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.05. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $144.75 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $139.39. The company has a quick ratio of 2.10, a current ratio of 2.10 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 30th. The information services provider reported $1.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.60 by $0.04. Alphabet had a net margin of 24.01% and a return on equity of 27.22%. The firm had revenue of $86.31 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $85.28 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.05 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Alphabet

In other Alphabet news, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 16,088 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.10, for a total value of $2,237,840.80. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,294,404. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Alphabet news, CFO Ruth Porat sold 48,077 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $137.22, for a total transaction of $6,597,125.94. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 1,777,106 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $243,854,485.32. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, SVP Prabhakar Raghavan sold 16,088 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $139.10, for a total transaction of $2,237,840.80. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 52,440 shares in the company, valued at $7,294,404. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 251,138 shares of company stock valued at $35,427,655 over the last three months. 12.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Advisors Network Inc. grew its stake in Alphabet by 4.5% in the 1st quarter. Financial Advisors Network Inc. now owns 161 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $450,000 after buying an additional 7 shares during the last quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. raised its stake in shares of Alphabet by 10.8% during the first quarter. Turim 21 Investimentos Ltda. now owns 82 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after acquiring an additional 8 shares during the last quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.7% during the first quarter. West Michigan Advisors LLC now owns 252 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $704,000 after buying an additional 9 shares during the period. Somerville Kurt F increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 10.3% during the first quarter. Somerville Kurt F now owns 118 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $330,000 after buying an additional 11 shares during the period. Finally, Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 1.4% during the first quarter. Stonebridge Capital Advisors LLC now owns 1,182 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,301,000 after buying an additional 16 shares during the period. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.