Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Stock Price Down 2.3% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL) traded down 2.3% during mid-day trading on Monday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $167.08 and last traded at $168.01. 15,179,054 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 50% from the average session volume of 30,434,826 shares. The stock had previously closed at $171.95.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $132.70, for a total transaction of $2,985,750.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,332,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $309,548,095.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 2,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $175.76, for a total value of $369,096.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 5,891 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,035,402.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 253,439 shares of company stock worth $36,746,578 over the last ninety days. 0.88% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $150.00 to $166.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their price target on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Raymond James raised their price objective on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Robert W. Baird boosted their target price on Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Alphabet from $170.00 to $190.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $189.44.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 2.10 and a current ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market capitalization of $2.08 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.77, a PEG ratio of 1.57 and a beta of 1.05. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $147.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $141.42.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) 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 return on equity of 29.52% and a net margin of 25.90%. The business had revenue of $86.31 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $70.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.05 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 6.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th will be given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, June 10th.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tributary Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter valued at about $38,000. Richardson Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 87.5% in the 1st quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. Finally, Meritage Group LP boosted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1,061.5% in the third quarter. Meritage Group LP now owns 302 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 276 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.