Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) Shares Down 0.7% After Insider Selling

Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)’s share price traded down 0.7% on Monday after an insider sold shares in the company. The stock traded as low as $201.66 and last traded at $204.11. 6,098,839 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 61% from the average session volume of 15,688,117 shares. The stock had previously closed at $205.60.

Specifically, CAO Amie Thuener O’toole sold 1,340 shares of Alphabet stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $202.08, for a total value of $270,787.20. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 17,848 shares in the company, valued at $3,606,723.84. The trade was a 6.98 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Alphabet from $187.00 to $192.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Alphabet from $212.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Canaccord Genuity Group raised their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 target price on shares of Alphabet in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Alphabet from $182.00 to $187.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, twelve have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Alphabet Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $2.37 trillion, a P/E ratio of 25.64, a P/E/G ratio of 1.32 and a beta of 1.00. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $175.91. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04, a quick ratio of 1.95 and a current ratio of 1.95.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a net margin of 27.74% and a return on equity of 31.66%. As a group, analysts forecast that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Alphabet

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in GOOG. Weiss Asset Management LP bought a new position in Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Fiduciary Advisors Inc. bought a new position in shares of Alphabet during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Alphabet in the 3rd quarter worth $33,000. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. raised its position in shares of Alphabet by 87.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. now owns 251 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Noble Wealth Management PBC purchased a new stake in shares of Alphabet during the fourth quarter valued at $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.