Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Stock Price Down 1.1% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) was down 1.1% on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $188.66 and last traded at $191.07. Approximately 4,861,601 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 68% from the average daily volume of 15,176,303 shares. The stock had previously closed at $193.17.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 1,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, January 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.80, for a total value of $284,700.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 21,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,142,195.20. This represents a 6.43 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on GOOG shares. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank started coverage on Alphabet in a report on Friday, October 11th. They issued a “sector outperform” rating and a $212.00 target price on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group boosted their target price on Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Citizens Jmp downgraded Alphabet from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $200.56.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a current ratio of 1.95 and a quick ratio of 1.95. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $184.95 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.55. The firm has a market cap of $2.38 trillion, a PE ratio of 25.79, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 0.99.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The information services provider reported $2.12 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.83 by $0.29. The business had revenue of $88.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $86.39 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 31.66% and a net margin of 27.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 16th. Investors of record on Monday, December 9th were given a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, December 9th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is currently 10.61%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Grant GrossMendelsohn LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter worth about $1,188,000. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Chemistry Wealth Management LLC now owns 105,498 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $20,091,000 after purchasing an additional 759 shares in the last quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 113.4% during the fourth quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 27,682 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $5,272,000 after buying an additional 14,708 shares during the last quarter. Avanza Fonder AB bought a new position in Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $62,647,000. Finally, Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Alphabet by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 70,939 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $13,510,000 after buying an additional 617 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 27.26% 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.