Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Trading Down 0.8% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) shares fell 0.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday following insider selling activity. The stock traded as low as $148.70 and last traded at $148.80. 4,190,781 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 79% from the average session volume of 20,125,967 shares. The stock had previously closed at $150.01.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 2,835 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $151.53, for a total transaction of $429,587.55. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 29,182 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,421,948.46. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider John Kent Walker sold 21,467 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $160.35, for a total value of $3,442,233.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 39,334 shares in the company, valued at $6,307,206.90. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In other Alphabet news, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $158.68, for a total transaction of $3,570,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2,137,385 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $339,160,251.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Cantor Fitzgerald upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 5th. Rosenblatt Securities lowered shares of Alphabet from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $181.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Friday, June 28th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their target price on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Alphabet has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $182.86.

Alphabet Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.83 trillion, a PE ratio of 22.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.13 and a beta of 1.04. 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $171.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $166.00.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $84.22 billion. Alphabet had a return on equity of 30.49% and a net margin of 26.70%. The company’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, research analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 16th. Stockholders of record on Monday, September 9th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.54%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, September 9th. Alphabet’s payout ratio is presently 12.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its position in shares of Alphabet by 11.9% in the 1st quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 109,878 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $16,730,000 after purchasing an additional 11,646 shares during the last quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Alphabet by 5.3% in the second quarter. Colonial River Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,126 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after buying an additional 107 shares during the last quarter. Apexium Financial LP raised its stake in Alphabet by 335.9% in the fourth quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 53,823 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $7,586,000 after buying an additional 41,476 shares in the last quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Alphabet by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Oak Ridge Investments LLC now owns 187,229 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $28,508,000 after buying an additional 8,201 shares during the last quarter. Finally, V Square Quantitative Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Alphabet by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 62,917 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,580,000 after acquiring an additional 426 shares in the last quarter. 27.26% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.