Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 1% on Insider Selling

Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) fell 1% during mid-day trading on Friday after an insider sold shares in the company. The company traded as low as $153.83 and last traded at $154.23. 7,706,160 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 60% from the average session volume of 19,425,162 shares. The stock had previously closed at $155.75.

Specifically, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 32,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $155.90, for a total transaction of $5,066,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2,652,696 shares in the company, valued at approximately $413,555,306.40. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on GOOG. Westpark Capital restated a “buy” rating and issued a $210.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Citigroup reissued a “sell” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $171.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Friday, April 25th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “cautious” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group decreased their price target on Alphabet from $209.00 to $173.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 11th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, fourteen have given a buy rating and five have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Alphabet presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $203.94.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.9 %

The business has a 50 day moving average of $160.96 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.93. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.87 trillion, a PE ratio of 19.18, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.01. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03, a quick ratio of 1.84 and a current ratio of 1.84.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 24th. The information services provider reported $2.81 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.02 by $0.79. The business had revenue of $90.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $89.30 billion. Alphabet had a net margin of 28.60% and a return on equity of 32.49%. The company’s revenue was up 12.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.89 EPS. Analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, June 9th will be given a dividend of $0.21 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, June 9th. This is an increase from Alphabet’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.20. This represents a $0.84 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.54%. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio is presently 9.36%.

Institutional Trading of Alphabet

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $5,166,070,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 18,562.3% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 14,323,323 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,237,733,000 after buying an additional 14,246,573 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 2.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 411,570,922 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $64,299,725,000 after buying an additional 9,687,855 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Alphabet in the 4th quarter worth $1,551,533,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in Alphabet by 16.1% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 57,098,042 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $10,873,751,000 after acquiring an additional 7,917,625 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.