Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 1% Following Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price traded down 1% during trading on Wednesday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $164.88 and last traded at $165.34. 4,592,261 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 83% from the average session volume of 27,407,678 shares. The stock had previously closed at $166.99.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,367 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, October 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $168.84, for a total transaction of $230,804.28. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 29,183 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,927,257.72. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, October 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $167.07, for a total value of $3,759,075.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,129,306 shares in the company, valued at approximately $355,743,153.42. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other news, insider John Kent Walker sold 16,802 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $165.47, for a total transaction of $2,780,226.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,999 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,280,514.53. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on Alphabet in a research report on Tuesday, July 16th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $240.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $222.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Piper Sandler reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $200.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Alphabet from $205.00 to $190.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, September 3rd. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.14.

Alphabet Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 2.08. The company has a fifty day moving average of $162.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $167.00. The company has a market cap of $2.05 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 $70.60 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.44 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Investors of record on Monday, September 9th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.48%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 12.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc increased its holdings in Alphabet by 75.0% in the second quarter. Christopher J. Hasenberg Inc now owns 140 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $26,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Alphabet in the 4th quarter valued at about $30,000. Tributary Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Alphabet in the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Kings Path Partners LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Denver PWM LLC purchased a new position in Alphabet during the second quarter worth approximately $41,000. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.