Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.2% on Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price fell 0.2% during trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $184.00 and last traded at $184.91. 3,895,541 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 86% from the average session volume of 28,364,176 shares. The stock had previously closed at $185.24.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $166.67, for a total transaction of $113,668.94. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,284 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,880,764.28. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director John L. Hennessy sold 800 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $159.56, for a total transaction of $127,648.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 7,991 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,275,043.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 123,788 shares of company stock worth $21,143,403 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 11.55% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $215.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Alphabet from $141.00 to $168.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, April 26th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $195.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Raymond James boosted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $160.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, April 26th. Finally, Loop Capital reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $170.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday. Six equities 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $193.66.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.15, a current ratio of 2.15 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $173.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $155.17. The stock has a market cap of $2.29 trillion, a PE ratio of 28.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 1.05.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, April 25th. The information services provider reported $1.89 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.49 by $0.40. Alphabet had a net margin of 25.90% and a return on equity of 29.52%. The business had revenue of $80.54 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $66.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.6 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 17th. Investors of record on Monday, June 10th were paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.43%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, June 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet in the fourth quarter worth $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. DiNuzzo Private Wealth Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth $38,000. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. increased its position in Alphabet by 59.2% during the 1st quarter. CarsonAllaria Wealth Management Ltd. now owns 293 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $44,000 after buying an additional 109 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Richardson Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 87.5% in the first quarter. Richardson Capital Management LLC now owns 300 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 140 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 40.03% of the company’s stock.

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.