Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Trading Down 0.2% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOGL)’s share price traded down 0.2% during mid-day trading on Tuesday following insider selling activity. The company traded as low as $160.76 and last traded at $161.55. 5,034,151 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 82% from the average session volume of 27,586,813 shares. The stock had previously closed at $161.85.

Specifically, Director John L. Hennessy sold 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 23rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $165.00, for a total value of $115,500.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 27,824 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,590,960. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Sundar Pichai sold 22,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, September 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $160.63, for a total transaction of $3,614,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2,114,885 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $339,713,977.55. The disclosure for this sale can be found here.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on GOOGL. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Alphabet from $200.00 to $204.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Alphabet from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Mizuho raised their price target on Alphabet from $205.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Cantor Fitzgerald reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $190.00 price objective on shares of Alphabet in a report on Monday. Finally, Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Alphabet from $190.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty-eight have assigned a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Alphabet currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $201.08.

Alphabet Stock Down 0.5 %

The firm has a 50-day moving average of $163.80 and a two-hundred day moving average of $166.17. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.99 trillion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.04. The company has a quick ratio of 2.08, a current ratio of 2.08 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The information services provider reported $1.89 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.85 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $84.74 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 company earned $1.44 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Alphabet Inc. will post 7.63 earnings per share for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 16th. Shareholders of record on Monday, September 9th were given a $0.20 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, September 9th. This represents a $0.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 0.50%. Alphabet’s payout ratio is 12.27%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Alphabet

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC raised its position in Alphabet by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. TrinityPoint Wealth LLC now owns 59,125 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $8,259,000 after acquiring an additional 907 shares in the last quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 3.5% during the 4th quarter. BlackDiamond Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,417 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $1,353,000 after purchasing an additional 318 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 995,828 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $139,107,000 after purchasing an additional 19,376 shares during the last quarter. Prospector Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Alphabet by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. Prospector Partners LLC now owns 64,925 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $9,069,000 after purchasing an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hohimer Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Alphabet by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Hohimer Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,729 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $3,877,000 after buying an additional 1,876 shares during the last quarter. 40.03% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.