Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 2.2% Following Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares traded down 2.2% during trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $161.36 and last traded at $161.47. 4,307,362 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 20,067,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $165.11.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 682 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.44, for a total transaction of $109,420.08. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 32,017 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $5,136,807.48. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Rosenblatt Securities lowered Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Oppenheimer raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, TD Cowen increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market capitalization of $1.96 trillion, a P/E ratio of 24.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.05. The business’s fifty day moving average is $173.69 and its 200 day moving average is $165.59. The company has a current ratio of 2.08, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th will be given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% in the 2nd quarter. Twelve Points Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,985 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the second quarter. PCG Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,880 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $345,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.6% during the second quarter. Investment Advisory Services Inc. TX ADV now owns 3,636 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $667,000 after buying an additional 57 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% during the second quarter. Advisors Management Group Inc. ADV now owns 2,944 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $540,000 after buying an additional 58 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 11.1% during the first quarter. Mark Sheptoff Financial Planning LLC now owns 600 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after buying an additional 60 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

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.