Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Shares Down 0.3% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s stock price fell 0.3% on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $154.70 and last traded at $156.56. 5,954,853 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 78% from the average session volume of 27,298,383 shares. The stock had previously closed at $157.07.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 673 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $155.33, for a total value of $104,537.09. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 15,303 shares in the company, valued at $2,377,014.99. This trade represents a 4.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 11,764 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 27th. The shares were sold at an average price of $166.84, for a total transaction of $1,962,705.76. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 49,037 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,181,333.08. The trade was a 19.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on GOOGL. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Alphabet from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Alphabet from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 5th. DZ Bank lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, February 6th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wolfe Research lifted their target price on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 3rd. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-nine have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $209.49.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84. The company has a market cap of $1.91 trillion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.02. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.01 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.09.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, research analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.9 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, March 17th. Investors of record on Monday, March 10th were paid a dividend of $0.20 per share. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.51%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 9.94%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 11,283,594 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,871,384,000 after purchasing an additional 337,031 shares in the last quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL boosted its position in Alphabet by 1.0% during the 3rd quarter. Capital City Trust Co. FL now owns 65,586 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,877,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Alphabet by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,968 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,975,000 after acquiring an additional 1,118 shares in the last quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.1% in the third quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,305 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $3,699,000 after purchasing an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tidemark LLC lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.5% in the third quarter. Tidemark LLC now owns 3,143 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $521,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.